


Burnouts

by A_R_Isles



Category: Books & Literature - Fandom, Freaks and Geeks, Gossip Girl (TV 2007), Life as We Know It (2010), My So-Called Life, Real Person Fiction
Genre: 1990s, 90's Music, Adult Content, Alternate Universe - Normal Life, Bi-Curiosity, Blow Jobs, Break Up, Drama, Drama & Romance, Drunk Sex, Emotional Roller Coaster, Eventual Romance, Falling In Love, Fiction, Fist Fights, Fluff and Smut, Gay, Gay Male Character, Gay Sex, Grunge, Heterosexual Character, High School, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Inspired by Music, LGBTQ Themes, Leo dicaprio - Freeform, Lesbian Character, Licking, Love, Love Triangles, Manhattan, Money, Multi, New York City, Oral Sex, Poor Life Choices, Private School, Profanity, Recreational Drug Use, Romance, Rough Sex, Secret Relationship, Secrets, Sex, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Smut, Strained Friendships, Strained Relationships, Swearing, Sweet/Hot, Teen Angst, Teen Romance, Teenage Rebellion, Vaginal Sex, Violence, leonardo dicaprio - Freeform, long chapters, rich kids
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-14 07:42:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 22,434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28667175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_R_Isles/pseuds/A_R_Isles
Summary: Trust fund babies and the less fortunate coexisting through the turmoil of relationships, friends, drugs, and sex... basically the normal 1990s teen antics.





	1. Addington High

**Scene 1: Addington High Hall**

**Heather Blakely**

"Where'd you say you moved from again?" Audrey questions the newest recruit.

"California," the girl smiles.

"Well, Manhattan is better, I would know. My family and I travel somewhere new every summer break," Audrey tries to establish her superiority, as usual. She feeds off of feeling like she's better than everyone else...which is why she always volunteers to show around the new girls who she deems _'almost as pretty as her.'_

Fortunately, Alison and I have been friends with Audrey since the third grade. She doesn't think of us as competition anymore.

And, I know this school was already divided before we got here...but I do blame Audrey for the division between what we call the burnouts and what they call us, the centrals.

The burnouts tend to live in the lower east side of Manhattan, they catch the subway to make it to school every morning, and they only go to Addington because of a scholarship program the old headmaster founded.

Three years ago, Addington was in hot water over discrimination allegations, so the school board decided to reserve spots for ten students in each grade level for poor kids in low-income families.

The headmaster was hesitant about letting them in, you know, in fear of them giving our "pristine school" a bad look. However, word got out, and it inspired a bunch of burnout parents to send their burnout kids to a school full of overachievers, athletes, and "centrals," trust fund babies who live with their status-obsessed parents in the Upper East side of Manhattan by Central Park.

We don't intermingle. Though, every here and there, rumors spread about hookups between centrals and burnouts. It figures, even if central girls stuck to central boys, central boys would still go after whoever puts out the fastest, burnout or not.

It doesn't matter in the end. No one ever admits to it.

Nonetheless, I've been in a two-year relationship with Jace Kendal since freshman year. He's sweet but also kind of an asshole, the central boy specialty.

We met at the annual society gala that my mom hosts to "keep our community close." In other words, It's just an excuse to get in everyone's business and search for economic opportunities. Jace and I were one of the few sons and daughters who were forced to attend such a dull and lifeless event. Therefore, instead of fake smiling and being introduced to middle-aged narcissists, we ended up talking to each other and making out in my bedroom.

Soon after, he started "casually" standing in front of my hotel before school and _conveniently_ forgetting that I lived there. I thought it was cute that he went through all of that trouble just to walk me to school, yet never had the guts to ask me out, so I asked him, instead.

This is as close as you're going to get to a romantic fairytale in New York, but I'm okay with it if everyone else is.

"Anyway, we should get to class," Audrey sighs, "see you at lunch, Heather?" She asks and pretends as if the new girl isn't there.

"As usual," I laugh lightly.

"Oh, and you...Lisa, right?" She furrows her eyebrows.

"Mhm," the girl smiles.

"I guess you can sit with us too," Audrey rolls her eyes, "we sit at the tables lined up in the middle of the cafeteria, you can't miss us, no one ever does," she smirks and confidently walks off in the direction of her first-period class.

"Uh— it was nice meeting you...I'll see you later, then," I say awkwardly before turning around and heading down the hall to my homeroom.

**Scene 2: Homeroom - Physics**

**Leo Rylin**

"Are you actually going to class, dude?" Jordan raises his eyebrows.

"Yeah, man," I shrug, "Ms. Chang has it out for me. She's going to make me repeat the semester if I don't start showing up."

"Sucks for you," he laughs, "catch you later, yeah?" Jordan says before rushing to sneak out of the side door by the staircase.

I don't know how he hasn't been kicked out yet. This school is fucking ridiculous. They call my mom like twice a day if I'm even late for class...you know, the ones I show up to. No one wants us low-income kids here but ever since we got in, they get to call themselves "economically diverse." I was completely fine going to school closer to home.

I tried to convince my mom to let me go back...but I went by last weekend and saw they shut it down. Asbestos was found in the walls, and when they tried to find out how much, they came across a shit ton of cocaine in the ceiling vents over the boys' restroom. It's either stay here or wake up even earlier to go to a school even further.

"Mr. Rylin, are you taking notes?" Ms. Chang asks.

"Do you see a notebook?"

"No, I see an 'F' for your semester grade." She crosses her arms, "and I guess I'll be seeing you again next year," she adds, "and _you_ won't be seeing a high school diploma."

"I'm glad we've come to this mutual understanding," I reply.

"Well since you have so much to say, Leonardo, you won't mind speaking with me after class."

"Anything for you, Ms. Chang," I smirk as the class becomes filled with awkward tension. No preppy would step out of line with a teacher, but we're all people here, am I right? They look back in forth from me to Ms. Chang before diverting their attention back to the board. "What?" I glare as some central chick continues to narrow her eyes at me, she scoffs in response but looks away like she should've done in the first place.

Each class is an hour-long...and I'm not a morning person. With that said, it doesn't take long for me to fall asleep, especially when it comes to something as boring and unimportant as physics.

"Hey-" I feel a nudge and lift my head up off of the desk, "the bell rung."

"Thanks," I say tiredly to the kid who usually sits next to me. We're not friends...but he doesn't seem to have any...so I'm the next best thing.

He nods, and I follow after him in order to join the crowd that's leaving the class.

"Not so fast, Leonardo," Ms. Chang stops me. "How do you plan to bring up your grade, I'd hate to have to schedule a conference with your mother...again."

"Isn't there some type of extra credit you can give me?" I ask in disinterest.

"No, but you can take the semester exam, and it'll bring your grade up to a high D...a low C if you're lucky."

"And if I don't?" I raise an eyebrow.

"I think you know the answer to that." She places her hands together, "if I were you, I'd get to studying. Exams are in February."

And it's only September. I've got plenty of time...to find someone to swipe me the answers.

**Scene 3: Addington High Cafeteria**

**Heather Blakely**

"So, my parents are going down to the country club in Sands Point this weekend, we'll have the house to ourselves. What do you say?" Jace puts his arm over my shoulder.

"Um— I'll have to check with my parents first. I think they've already made plans. You know, family stuff," I shrug.

"You can't get out of it?" He asks in disappointment.

"Probably not, it's kind of their anniversary," I give him a sympathetic smile.

Truthfully, I don't have any plans with my family, and I'm just making up an excuse not to be with him. I honestly don't want to spend two days having sex at the top of every hour and having unsubstantial conversations everywhere in between.

"Okay, maybe some other time then," He sighs, "I'll just have some of the boys over."

"Behave yourself," I say sternly.

 _Some of the boys_ includes Trevor Bailey, the definition of egotistic and manipulative. I often question whether or not he's _paying_ Jace to be friends with him, because no one should do it willingly.

I understand that girls fall to his feet because of his status and the fact that he's...dare I say it, _appealing to the eye._ But why does he have friends? He's dreadful.

He bought a café and fired the staff because one of the baristas wouldn't give him her number. He flirts with me right in front of Jace, but since they're best friends, I guess Jace trusts that flirting is all he'd do. Although...I'm pretty sure I've heard that Trevor slept with one of his dad's potential fiancées out of spite. I guess there isn't a very strong bond between father and son. And despite that, Trevor still won't go live with his mother in Nevada. He's claimed New York as his play pin.

"Well, would you look at that," Trevor stares out of the large glass windows that overlook the tables outside.

"What?" Jace asks and tries to find whatever caught Trevor's attention.

"You see that girl with the dirty blonde hair. Wearing the gray flannel? She has so much potential...if she just tried a little harder, she would actually be pretty hot."

"The burnout? I don't think her hair is actually dirty blonde...it's just blonde...and dirty," Jace scrutinizes her, "And why are they allowed to break the dress code?"

"If they don't wear the uniform, no one can tell they go here. It's a win/win for them _and_ the administrators," Trevor smirks.

"That's not why, you asshole," I roll my eyes, "The headmistress is more lenient with them because at least they're _coming_ to school. Plus, they wear at least half of the uniform."

"That's not fair," Jace scowls.

Maybe not, but I give them credit. If the guys wear their collared shirts, they don't wear ties or slacks. If the girls wear their skirts or dresses, it's cut shorter. Other times, they'll disregard the dress code altogether.

"Well, they're not getting into college," Trevor laughs, "this is their biggest accomplishment: _Addington High_."

I frown and try to tune out the rest of their conversation. I don't hate the burnouts, we don't really have a reason to. I don't even like calling them that but I wouldn't know what else to say. I understand why they don't like us, though. The second they walked through the school doors, everybody looked at them like someone had just let dirty dogs onto freshly cleaned white carpet.

"They're staring back..." I say lowly when I notice one of the guys point and look at us, causing the rest of them to look as well

"Fucking lowlifes," Trevor stands up angrily when they all simultaneously stick their middle fingers up at us. One of them even taking it as far as to mouth "suck my dick," while pointing toward theirs.

"Hey hey hey, where are you going," Jace tries to grab him as he storms toward the door leading outside.

"Where do you think I'm going?" Trevor scoffs, "I'm about to light a match under these burnouts."

Jace looks hesitant but follows after him anyway.

I stand by the door...hoping Trevor can be talked out of getting his ass kicked out there. I watch as he comes face to face with one of the burnouts, his jaw is clenched and I can tell they're exchanging some harsh words. Trevor pushes the poor boy, causing him to stumble back. The rest of his friends immediately stood up and went after Trevor. Jace tried to mediate the situation but just ended up getting punched in the face. I sigh in disappointment when everyone in the cafeteria decides to stand up and cheer at the sight of the brawl, leaving no one to try and break it up, no one but me, of course.

I cautiously navigate my way through the boys who are fighting to the death and attempt to get ahold of Jace. It was a failed attempt and I instantly regretted it when I was pushed back and left on the cold cement.

No one notices I'm down here as I dust off my hands.

"You okay?" A low voice sounds from above me.

I look up to see the most familiar of the burnouts, Leo Rylin. He's in my physics class. "I'm fine," I glare, "thanks for offering to help me up."

"Do you need me to teach you how to stand?" He narrows his eyes at me. I open my mouth to speak but am interrupted by the administrators _finally_ rushing to break everything up. People start running to escape being suspended and the security guards struggle to catch... _anyone_ at all _._ "If I were you I'd get out of here, butterfly." He smirks, "and scrape your boy off of the floor. He's bleeding..." I turn around and see Jace wiping the blood from his mouth and turn back around to see that Leo is gone.

**Scene 4: Addington High Auditorium**

**Jace Kendal**

"I suppose you all know why you were called here," Headmistress Sanderson takes a deep breath, "the events that occurred outside of the lunchroom today were absolutely _atrocious._ It seems as if you young men have forgotten that you represent Addington High. You are our future." She rants, "I expect everyone who was involved to come forward and accept your punishment." ...We already tried to tell her that the lower east side scum jumped us, but she insisted on calling a meeting to be fair. _'It's your word against theirs,'_ she says. My eyes practically roll to the back of my head as she continues, "Please keep in mind that if you don't, we will be forced to punish you all, and I will _not_ be merciful. How does detention for the rest of the school year sound? How about no access to outside lunch tables? And being banned from all school events for one semester?... _including_ all school dances!"

Fuck...Heather will kill me. The girls in general will take turns slitting our throats if we get banned.

I stand up, "Headmistress Sanderson, we shouldn't all be punished. Some of us are just victims, look at my face. Look at Trevor's, he can't even see out of his right eye."

"You were both active participants, Mr. Kendal. If I recall correctly, you had to be pulled off of Henry Randolph, who won't name anyone else who helped out in this brawl."

"Not to be disrespectful, headmistress, but my family pays far too much for me to have to be in an environment with cheap slackers who were given a full ride, put me in danger, _and_ have no intention of learning," I clench my jaw.

"This is not the time nor the place to have this discussion. You may see me in my office after the assembly, and if you're so worried about your family, I wouldn't mind calling your parents so they can shed some light on the situation. How's that sound, Mr. Kendal?"

I sigh and take a seat, being tormented by the sound of some guys snickering behind me. I subtly take a look over my shoulder and notice that one of them is burnout sophomore Nick Macy. That kid let a shit ton of ants loose in the boys' locker room and all over the uniforms before a basketball game last year. It was us against their old school, so that shows who his loyalty lies with. Our team looked ridiculous freaking out on the court while his team scored a bunch of easy baskets.

Nick is sitting with a whole spawn of burnouts, one being Leo Rylin. The one lowlife I can honestly say I _loathe._ He's a weak, remorseless, drug slinging, sad fuck. The thought of him breathing makes my stomach churn. Before I look away, I notice that his knuckles are wrapped up, meaning that he probably made a few faces bleed as well. Yet...he's not stepping up. Looks like headmistress and I have a lot to talk about after all, and if she'd like another charitable donation from the Kendal family...then she'd better consider ridding our school of the pest problem.

**Scene 5: Headmistress Sanderson's Office**

**Jace Kendal**

"So..." I say after about two minutes of watching her rearrange her desk.

"One moment please," Sanderson says sternly before continuing to basically switch everything that's on the right with what's on the left. "Alright now, what is it that you have to say for yourself?" She places her hands together.

"You asked for names, and I've got one that will definitely lead to all the others."

"Okay then, do tell," she motions for me to continue.

"Leo Rylin," I say victoriously, "he's trying to hide it but his knuckles are busted. Perhaps because they were coming in contact with faces."

"Yours?"

"Well uh—"

"If you didn't see him with your own eyes then I cannot take this information seriously. I cannot simply incriminate a student with no witnesses or proof." Sanderson stands as if she's about to leave the room.

"Can you just call him down here? I'm sure you can find a few holes in his story once you realize it doesn't match up anywhere close to mine."

"And how am I supposed to know you're not the one lying? You expect me to believe that Leonardo is a liar because you believe he's lower than you? I do not condone bullying, Mr. Kendal, and I know how some of you students treat each other," her arms cross, "Listen, young man, I will schedule a meeting with Leonardo first thing tomorrow morning and if I'm given any reason to believe he's innocent. You will be automatically suspended and this will go on your transcript. I'll have you know, the only people in which we are sure were involved in this are Trevor Bailey, Henry Randolph, and _you_. Trevor initiated the situation and I don't need to remind you of how we found you. Henry has already claimed self-defense."

"I tried to stop this before it started!" I feel my skin heating up in anger.

"I'd love to take your word for it, Jace, but someone needs to be held accountable, and we have no reliable witnesses. Once we get more names and full stories from unbiased sources, your punishment will be evaluated fairly, understand?"

"Yes," I huff.

"Have a good day, Mr. Kendal," she gestures for me to leave.

I don't say anything in response, instead, I roll my eyes and walk out of her office angrier than I was when I stepped in. More witnesses? If I went to the police and told them I was stabbed in an alleyway they wouldn't look at me and say "you need more witnesses" after I've told them who did it. My busted lip is the proof, the bruise on my cheek is the proof, the fact that it took half a box of Kleenex to stop my nose from bleeding is the proof. Yeah, Leo wasn't the one who was trying to beat me to death but I'll bet money that he was there.

I walk over to the payphone on the wall and immediately dial Heather's number.

"Hello," she answers on the first ring.

"I need you to do me a huge favor."

"Anything, what is it?"

"I need you to go to the headmistress tomorrow and give her the names of some burnouts," I say lowly since I'm still a bit close to her office, my driver isn't here yet and it's cold as bricks outside, "get a few friends to do it too."

"Which burnouts?" I hear the concern in her voice.

"Doesn't matter," I shrug.

"That seems a little wrong, Jace. Plus, I don't even know most of their names," Heather sighs.

"Not even one?"

"Well...I know Leo Rylin."


	2. Blame me, Blakely

**Scene 1: Headmistress Sanderson's office**

**Leo Rylin**

"You wanted to see me, Headmistress?" I walked into her office and took a seat in front of her desk.

"I sent for you twenty minutes ago, Leonardo," she sighs.

"I got lost, it's a big school," I shrug and lean back in my chair.

"You have always managed to find your way here before."

"Is there a reason I'm here, Sanderson?" I raise an eyebrow.

" _Headmistress_ Sanderson to you, Leonardo. We show respect at Addington High, understood?"

"I don't understand why I'm here," I groan, "I haven't done anything all week."

"Are you denying any involvement with yesterday's incident?"

"That sad excuse for a fight? Yeah, I wasn't apart of that," I speak truthfully, "but it's not like you didn't already know that."

"I am not obliged to tell you what information I do or do not know, Mr. Rylin." I can sense she's getting frustrated with my responses.

"Face it, if you had anything on me, I'd be expelled already."

She huffs but keeps her composure as she walks to the door and opens it. "You can come in now, Heather," Headmistress smiles and invites her in. "Take a seat next to Leonardo."

Heather Blakely...high society trust fund baby.I have a class or two with her, I think. She was at the fight yesterday...on the ground but there, nonetheless. I spoke to her so she knows I wasn't fighting. For once, I'll be leaving Sanderson's office without a week of detention.

"You witnessed yesterday's events, am I right, Ms. Blakely?" Sanderson asks.

"Yes, I was there from the beginning until the end," Heather nods and looks a little nervous.

"Can you name anyone else you saw there as well?"

"Um— yes, Jace Kendal and Trevor Bailey," she says cautiously.

"Yes, Heather, I know that. However, they were not fighting each other. Did you see anyone other than them there?"

"I saw...him."

"Him as in..." Headmistress urges her to continue.

"...Leo." I quickly turn to her and furrow my eyebrows.

"Ah, so you were there, after all, Mr. Rylin," Sanderson smiles victoriously.

"Wha— I mean, yes, I was there. But I wasn't fighting, tell her Heather. I asked if you were okay, tell her the truth,"I look almost desperately at her. The one time I'm _actually_ innocent, I get brought down by a fucking park avenue princess.

"If you don't mind me asking, why are your knuckles wrapped up?" Sanderson asks about the _only_ honest incriminatingevidence they have on me.

"I got in a fight _outside of school._ I have a life that doesn't involve this place. Trust me, if I bashed some centrals' faces in, I would own it."

"And risk expulsion?" She looks as if she expects me to say 'no.'

"We don't want to be here just as much as you don't want us here," I respond.

"We? As in who?"

"All of your charity cases, Sanderson," I roll my eyes, "all the little street kids you let into your pretty school."

"Leonardo," she sighs, "believe it or not, I am not the enemy. No one thinks of you as charity, you're thought of as any other bright pupil here. You're someone whose chance of succeeding is limited by you and you only."

"Right now it's limited by some chick I hardly know," I motion toward Heather. "Money doesn't buy happiness, it just makes you a pathological liar."

"Leonardo-" Headmistress starts to say.

I stand up, "Can I go now? All these lies are giving me a false sense of reality, I'm starting to hallucinate. I just imagined the head of the school lecturing me about ruining my future while allowing a society superstar to ruin it for me."

"I'm not expelling you, Mr. Rylin."

"Wow, thank you for being charitable once again. Where the hell is Alfred Nobel? We need the goddamn peace prize!" I storm out of the office, slamming the door behind me.

Fuck Addington High, fuck centrals, and double fuck Heather Blakely.

**Scene 2: Addington Courtyard**

**Audrey Michaels**

"What are our plans for this weekend?" I ask.

Alison raises her eyebrows, "are there any parties?"

"Jace and Trevor are hosting something, but it will be filled with porn stars and status climbers, no doubt. We're better than that."

"Oh..." she sighs.

"Luckily, I'm here to save the weekend, as usual. How about a ladies' night at my place? Manicures and martinis and then breakfast with mimosas?" I suggest.

My father doesn't mind what I do as long as I don't interfere with business or give the family a bad name. He's the mayor and the only scandal we've ever had was when my mother publicly had an affair with his publicist. Someone took a photo and it was all over every news outlet, my father was more embarrassed than heartbroken...which is probably why she left.

"I'd love to, thanks, Audrey," Alison smiles at me.

"How about you, Heather?" I turn to her, but she doesn't respond. "Earth to Heather, _hello!_ " I wave my hands in front of her face.

"Sorry, what'd you say?" Her voice sounds quieter than usual, signaling that something's bothering her.

"I asked if you wanted to stay over this weekend along with Alison," I narrow my eyes at her, "What's wrong?"

"Did you guys get called into the Headmistress's office this morning?"

Alison and I nod in response. "To discusses yesterday's ridiculous display of male testosterone? Yes, why?" I question.

"I did too...and I blamed Leo Rylin when I know he didn't do anything," she guiltily places her face in her hands.

"Who is Leo Rylin?" I raise an eyebrow and laugh. If this _Leo_ was anyone important, I would know.

"He's just a boy...an innocent one, at that..."

"Well, I told her I didn't know anything," I shrug.

"Yeah, I didn't even see the fight until it was almost over," Alison adds.

"I feel so guilty. He was really upset, and I couldn't even look him in the eyes," Heather's conscience speaks for her.

"Then I'll add a spa day to the weekend festivities. No more stressing, you'll get wrinkles," I pat her on the back.

"That actually sounds so good right now," Alison sighs, "My classes have me feeling really under the weather lately," she leans her head on me.

"I didn't know that Ethan Carey was on your course list," I say slyly, I don't know who she thinks she's fooling. Her _'classes'_ are as strenuous as they usually are. Ethan, however, has been stringing her along like she's on a collar. It's a laughable crush, she's wasting her time.

"I hate him," she whines.

"You love him," I roll my eyes, "just like Heather loves being a good person and will come to school tomorrow looking like death in designer after her guilty conscience swallows her whole," I say jokingly, and Heather looks sadly at me through the hair that fell into her face.

"If you're feeling this horribly about it, just apologize to him and tell the Headmistress the truth," Alison stupidly suggests.

"You think I should?"

"Of course not. Do you know how much trouble you would get into? If that goes on your record, all the Ivy Leagues will look at you as some sort of con artist. Do you know what that means?"

"No..."

"You'll have to go to a commoners school— like...Stanford or something," my face twists in disgust. "Alison is an unreliable source whom you shouldn't seek advice from. If anyone should be telling anyone anything, it should be her telling Ethan that she would give him a blowjob just for a second glance. Desperate much?" I scoff and silence washes over us for a moment.

"...that was really mean, Audrey," Heather speaks up.

"Oh, relax. She knows I didn't mean it, right Alison?"

"Yeah...right," she stands and walks away.

I glare at her as she practically stomps through the doors and into the corridor, "See you in class...bitch."

**Scene 3: Lacrosse Bleachers**

**Leo Rylin**

"Want a smoke?" Danny offers me a cigarette out of his half-empty pack of Marlboros.

"Nah, I'm trying to quit."

"What's the point? It doesn't matter if they're bad for you, we're all gonna die anyway." Same old optimistic Danny, always seeing the bright side of things.

"Yeah, well, I kinda wanna see how far I'll get without fucking up my lungs, okay?" I sigh and lay down on one of the cold, metal bleachers and stare up at the sky. It's probably going to rain, so we don't have to worry about the gym class coming out and the coach sending us back inside.

"What's your deal, asshole?" Danny took another puff of his cigarette.

"Some stupid, rich bitch got me suspended," I huff, "my mom is going to kill me. She told me that if I don't stay out of trouble she's sending me to live with my dad."

I probably wouldn't mind that if his wife didn't hate me. They have a daughter together, and she wants that to be his only child. Whenever I used to visit him over the school vacations, she'd try to convince him to get rid of me somehow. Eventually, he threatened to get my mom to send me to some shithole religious camp for "troubled teens," and I haven't spoken to him since. ****

Danny chuckled, "Why? What'd you do?"

"For the first time ever, I didn't do anything. It's what _you_ did," I glance over at him and see the confused look on his face.

"Me?" He says before exhaling the smoke from hischest. "For fighting?"

"Yeah...they think I started it or something," I shrugged.

"Why didn't they name me? I know that douche with the stiff hair saw me punch him in the face." 

"No witnesses, Headmistress thinks she's doing us a favor by not expelling us automatically. And, I'm not going to snitch on you."

"Why you, though? Out of all of us...why'd they blame you?"Danny asks the question that's been on my mind all day.

"Because..." I start to think and try to come up with an answer. Why exactly am I being framed? Heather and I never talked, if she has a problem with me then she must've heard something from— of course, I'm so stupid..."Jace Kendal," I sit up. "The kid hates me and I almost forgot he's trying to make another generation of prep babies with Heather."

"Is he the one I stole this from?" Danny shows me a gold, diamond embezzled watch.

"Holy shit," I grab it from him to admire it in my own hands, "nah, this has got to be Trevor's. He's loaded...probably doesn't even know it's missing," I toss it back to him.

"I'm gonna sell it at the pawnshop down the block from _Johnny's_."

 _Johnny's_ is a cheap burger place we like to hang out at since you can't get anything but water for a good price here in the Upper East.

"What're you going to do with the money?" I ask though I know the answer.

"Buy some blow...maybe some hash. Sell it to the kids here for double what I paid for it." He smirks, "I'll share the wealth since you took the fall for me, my way of saying thanks."

"Don't speak too soon..." I sigh when I see the Headmistress _and_ the Dean stepping through the low cut grass to get to Danny and me.

"What the hell arethey doing out here?" Danny quickly tosses and stomps out his cigarette.

"They're probably coming to kick me off campus," I say lowly since they're almost here.

The Headmistress holds a big smile as she stands in front of us, the Dean extends his hand out and expects both of us to shake it. "Daniel," he shakes his hand, "Leonardo," he shakes mine.

"We've brought wonderful news," Sanderson sighs happily, "and I need to personally apologize to _you_ , Mr. Rylin." ...I'm intrigued. "A student has come forward about your involvement in yesterday's chaos. You're free of all accusations and your suspension has been appealed. I will call your mother and apologize for what has begun to look like authorized bullying."

"Really?" My eyes narrow at them while I wait to find out whether or not this is a joke or a ploy to get me into more trouble.

"Yes, I am sorry for wasting your time...though, it doesn't seem like you're using it wisely. Please get to class, Mr. Rylin and Mr. Cole."

"Will do, Headmistress," Danny salutes her and she nods before turning away, placing her hand on the Dean's mid-back as they start to walk off.

"Hey, Headmistress!" I loudly call out for her to stop. Once she hears me and turns around, I get off of the bleachers and run up to her. "Can you tell me who came clean...or is that like classified or something?"

"Uh— sure," she says hesitantly, "Heather Blakely felt awful about everything and returned to my office to tell me the full story. After careful contemplation, I've decided to let the entire situation go. No parents have complained and as long as it doesn't happen again, I don't see why we need to dwell on this."

In other words, someone has paid you off.

"Thanks," I nod and head back to get my bag off of the bleachers.

**Scene 4: Rising Writer's Club**

**Heather Blakely**

"Welcome back, glad to see you're all here," My favorite teacher, Ms. Carter, smiles at us. Our club only meets once every two weeks, but I actually like coming here. Not only will this look good on a college application, but it's also a lot more fun and simpler than debate club, everyone's first choice for a pro-college club **.** "Let's start today with a free-write. No prompts, no direction, show me your creativity. I'll take a few volunteers to share what they have with everyone, okay?" She asks and a majority of us nod while the rest mumble an "okay" or "yes."

I must be the worst writer ever. I don't like prompts, but I can't think of anything without them. The last time she asked us to come up with something, I gave her two pages worth of ramblings titled _Kurt Cobain's Death: Suicide or Set-Up?_

I should apologize to her for that...

I reach into my bag to grab a pen to use instead of the two pencils Ms. Carter provided. I haven't voluntarily used pencils since elementary school, to me, pens represent maturity for some reason.

"Ten more minutes everyone," Ms. Carter announces, and I sigh before returning to my paper, clicking my pen over and over while looking around the room in hopes of finding inspiration. I meet Leo Rylin's gaze, instead, as he walks past the classroom.

"What's he doing here after hours?" I think to myself. I doubt _he's_ joined any clubs. Before I look away, he comes back to the open door. My breath hitches and I quickly advert my eyes, pretending to have completely fallen into the story I'm supposed to be writing.

He knocks on the door...as if he couldn't have just walked in.

"Yes, may I help you?" Ms. Carter asks.

"Um— I was wondering if I'd be able to speak with Heather for a second," he points toward me.

"Sure, you can take a seat next to her. Or, if it's private, you two can step out."

She's one of my favorite teachers because she's so sweet...but at this moment, I really wish she wasn't.

Leo sits next to me and I can feel him staring. I choose not to look at him, though his entire body is turned toward me.

"Hey," he says casually.

"...hi," I respond, still focused on the paper in front of me.

"So— uh, thanks for getting me out of the trouble you got me in," he half-heartedly shows gratitude.

"You're here to thank me?"

"I mean— yeah, I guess," Leo shrugs, "you went behind your boyfriends back to help fix what you messed up." On impulse, I face him at the very mention of Jace. "Can I ask you something, though?" I don't grant him a response. "What is it about me that makes him feel so threatened?" Leo smirks, "what have I done that made him want to get his pretty, perfect little girlfriend to take a few risks for him?"

My voice goes shallow, "...you tell me."

With that he gives me another smirk before standing up,"I'm gonna go, have fun in your baby authors club. I'll catch you around, butterfly."

...butterfly?

I scoff, "my name is Heather."

"I know your name, _butterfly,_ " he says arrogantly as he walks out of the door.

You and your weird friends...smug despite being disliked...smug _because_ you're disliked. I don't understand it.

"Is everyone almost done?" Ms. Carter clasps her hands together.

"Um— can I have a few more minutes? I just settled on a topic."

"Sure, you can present last, okay?"

"Thank you," I sigh.

_It took a week for the kingdom to divide, but no one but the queen is at fault. Sure, there was already tension between us as people because of the unspoken rule that "People with money and people without money aren't_ **_supposed_ ** _to mix." But the queen had been saying for days that the peasants were poison and shouldn't be able to breathe the same air as we noble people, let alone live amongst us. I, a simple lady in_ _waiting_ _, blocked out all her noise, but I could tell she was getting through to the others. They nodded their heads and laughed at the dining table...but I didn't think anyone would do anything about what_ _we_ _considered "poison."_

_The queen and her ladies were in her bedchambers, preparing for another day when everyone got word of what the queen had done. She acquired a few banners and a group of knights to help with her plans._

_We walked through the doors the next day and our mouths fell agape at the sight before us. The banners were covered in red paint and harsh words._

**"(you're not) Welcome, low-grade trash."**

**"Addington: A place for New York's finest, now accepting New York scum."**

_All throughout the kingdom,_ _incredibly_ _hateful things_ _were_ _said about people who hadn't done anything to us. The banners hung in every hall for everyone to bask in the glory of._

_And, oh, we did._

_If systematic bullying needed a detailed example. The kingdom of Addington would be perfect._

_However, we nobles did not anticipate their retaliation. They came at us with swords, daggers,_ _and plenty of fire_ **_._ ** _They showed us that they were our equals, and unlike us,_ _all_ _of them stood together. We had met our match and they took pride in what they did. The peasants let it be known that they weren't going to s_ _tand for it_ _...but we_ _only_ _took that as a challenge._

_"This is_ _our_ _kingdom_ _"_ _became justification for_ _the_ _tormenting_ _,_ _and everyone thought it was absolutely hilarious to pick on the less fortunate_ _because they were "beneath us."_

_Full-on war storms the halls of the castle. A civil war no one cares to end. Fire with fire leaves our kingdom in flames._

_Now we're all poison._


	3. Invite-only

**Scene 1: The Helmsley Hotel**

**Heather Blakely**

"Are you coming with me to pick up your mother from the airport?" My father asks.

"No, I'd rather not be stuck in the back of a car for an hour and a half," I sigh.

"Well, is there a reason you're in the house? You haven't spent a Friday night in since you were fourteen," My dad straightens his tie in the mirror on the wall.

"I haven't decided whether or not I want to do anything tonight." In other words, do I want to deal withAudrey or Trevor?

"Well, Mrs.Kendal called to wish us a happy anniversary and since I assumed it was _your_ doing, I had to say 'thank you'...now I can't invite her to our anniversary party in three months. Why have you done this?"

"Ugh," I groan, "Jace wanted to hang out this weekend, and I didn't want to hurt his feelings so I lied...I'll fix it, don't worry."

"I know you will," He smiles at me, "you're a Blakely."

You're a Blakely.

Why do names carry so much weight? When you hear names like "Crawford" or even "Trump" you immediately associate them with fame and wealth. But when you're in New York, "Blakely" means power. I can't imagine what it would be like to have a last name that only means something to _you._ What would it be like to be someone who is no one to everyone else?

I'm wrong for complaining **.** I'm grateful, I really am, but everything is so predictable. My life is planned out already and I'm only at the beginning of it. No matter how much I try to alter it, I'm set in one path.

I wanted to stay home tonight, but a series of events are leading me to a classic Bailey party to find Jace.

I head up the stairs and down the long hall until I reach my bedroom. On my dresser lies diamonds, pearls, and other, beautiful inexplicably expensive jewels that have accumulated over birthdays and holidays. Unfortunately for them, I'm not in the mood to accessorize. I sigh and look over at the vanity my mother insisted be built for me when I turned eleven years old. "You're in junior high, now, darling. It's time to prepare for the world of makeup." I guess I'm not in the mood for that either. All I really need tonight is a dress.

I open the doors to my closet and walk in. Everything's in season, my mother would never allow me to be caught dead in something that isn't "current." However, each time she scours through my closet to _throw away_ perfectly good clothes, she unknowingly makes a very sizable donation to charity. The people who work for her are fond of me, and thanks to them, homeless people are now seen in last season's designer.

I grab one of the only _casual_ dresses I have out of my closet and lay it on my bed. I then return to my closet to pick out a pair of heels to match it. I settle on the pair of black Louboutin's stilettos that I got from Christian, himself, on my trip to France last spring. ****

I debated on getting dressed right then and there but I'd rather take a long hot shower first. Plus, it's only seven and Trevor likes to keep people waiting until at least nine-thirty. I think it's kind of sad that people actually create a line so long that it ends up going down the street whenever Trevor has a party.They're all the same, just different locations sometimes. I'm just glad he always puts a select group of people on the list for entry before all others, and I'm on that list; though, I stopped going to his parties last year.

Can't wait to see the look on their faces when their eyes land on me tonight.

**Scene 2: Johnny's Grill**

**Leo Rylin**

"Ah, my fries are cold, you gonna eat yours?" Matt asks and I shake my head before pushing the basket over to him.

"You know, you should really lay off all the junk you eat all the time. You're gonna kill yourself."

"What are you talking about? You eat the same junk. We're at _Johnny's._ " Matt narrows his eyes at me.

"Yeah, but you eat this stuff every day. Once or twice isn't that bad but, c'mon, you practically eat grease for breakfast," I shrug. We come to _Johnny's_ all the time, there's great food, good music, working A.C., and customer service is pretty cool too since we're regulars. It's our hang out, but we should probably bite into a vegetable once in a while. Thank every higher power for teenage metabolism.

"So, Leo, guess what?" Danny smiles slyly, meaning whatever he wants me to guess will probably get me into some trouble.

"What is it this time, Danny?" I shake my head in amusement.

"Val called me and told me to come over later, Cherry's there and she asked for you."

"Cherry, huh?" I raise my eyebrows.

"Yes, _Cherry Marshall,_ a can't miss opportunity."

"I don't know, man. I'm not really up for it, tonight."

"What do you mean you're not up for it? Since when aren't you up for Cherry?"

"I am!" Zach says with wide eyes after he finishes slurping down his strawberry milkshake.

"Yeah, right." Danny laughs, "what would I look like bringing _you_ to Cherry Marshall?"

"You want to play board games with her, Zach?" Matt teases, "you want her to help you with your algebra homework?"

"You're fourteen, does your mom even know you're outside right now?" I chime in. "Don't you have a curfew?"

"I'm not your babysitter, Zach. I can't have a freshman tagging along when I go see my girlfriend and her crazy, redheaded friend." Danny pats him on the back. "Sorry, kid."

"I'm not a kid, and it's not fair that you guys always leave me behind," Zach pouts.

"Don't be like that," I say apologetically, "we only leave you behind when we're doing...adult things." Like...scoring drugs, or scoring with girls. I'm not even sure how Zach made it this far into our group. I probably had something to do with it, I like him, he's cool. Better him with us than another group that would take advantage of how impressionable he still is.

"You don't let me come to parties with you guys. Those parties aren't for adults," he makes a valid point.

"Once again, not your babysitter," Danny shrugs. "You still have a bedtime."

"Whatever, Danny." Zach continues to pout and toy with the straw in his milkshake.

"Fine," I give in. "You want to go to a party? I'll take you to a party." What can I say? I'm a sucker for the kid. He's like a little brother to me, and I've always wanted a little brother. "Matt can go with Danny to bang Val and Cherry."

"Really? You-" Danny covers Zach's mouth.

"What party?" Danny glares at me.

"A central party," I smirk.

"And how do you plan on getting in? Centrals host invite-only."

"It's not a party if no one crashes it," I say mischievously.

"...I'm coming with," Danny crosses his arms.

"What about Val?"

"What about Cherry?" Matt looks heartbroken, he jumped at a chance to take my spot in visiting her.

"We can pick them up on the way," Danny shrugs, "I'll drive, my van's the only thing that can fit all of us."

"Ah— I don't think we should pick up the girls. Val would probably prefer for you to just stay the night with her." I honestly don't care what Val wants, I just don't want Cherry expecting anything from me if she shows up. Every guy in the Lower East Side knows how attached Cherry gets to guys. I've already hooked up with her three times, if I do it again she'll think I like her...and her dad will fucking kill me if I make her cry.

"Are you kidding me? Do you know how many points I'll score if I take Val to a _central_ party? She loves that stuff!" Yeah, I can tell by all the fake Prada she steals.

"When's the party? Can we go now?" Zach smiles. He's either buzzing with excitement or on the verge of a sugar crash.

I lift my wrist to check my watch for the time. "It's nine, yeah, we can leave now."

Danny grabs his keys off the table and we all slide out of the booth, leaving about twenty dollars on the table to cover the check.

Danny parked his van out front, and I can't help but wonder how conspicuous we'll look driving through upper Manhattan in this. His van is gray and rusted, it needs a new coat of paint really badly. There's red carpet on the inside, along with empty beer cans and cigarette cartons. It's a seven-seater but the entire back row doesn't have seatbelts.

I sighed as I slid into the passenger's seat.

"Let's go crash a party," Danny smiled.

**Scene 3: Fifth Avenue - Jace's House**

**Heather Blakely**

"Hi, uh— I'm on the list." I try not to look at the cold and annoyed people scowling at me for being able to skip the line.

"Name?" The bouncer raises his eyebrows.

"Blakely, Heather Blakely." I run my hands down my cold arms.

"No Blakely up here," he presses his lips together.

"What?" I narrow my eyes at him, "Can you check again? This is my boyfriend's house, I'm on the list." It doesn't matter who made it, whether it was Trevor or Jace, I should be up there.

The bouncer laughs, "Yeah? Well, maybe he broke up with you because you're not on the list."

"Can you just go get him or something? I swear I'm not lying."

"No, unless you have an invitation, you're not getting in." He crosses his arms.

Are you kidding me? The invitations are for people who need to work to get invited. Trevor usually has them doing wildly irrational things just for a _chance_ to get into the party.

"Do you not know who I am?" I cringe once I say it but...he _should_ know.

"Lady, I couldn't care less. You could be the queen of the Netherlands and you still wouldn't get into this party." He turns away from me to tend to the line again.

"You know what? You're making a huge mistake, and when I _do_ get in, I'll make sure you're never hired-"

"Heather?" My name is called right before I could threaten the man further. I turn and my eyes land on a van that is probably from the '60s, I can imagine it previously having a giant peace sign painted on the side of it and hippies in the back getting baked beyond belief. The van pulls up to the curb and staring out from the window is Leo Rylin.

"What are you doing on this side of Manhattan?" I approach the...vehicle?

"Keeping you from being arrested, apparently," he smirks, obviously having witnessed the little altercation between me and a certain bouncer.

"Whatever," I sigh and turn to walk away from him but he grabs my hand.

"Why don't you just call your friends to let you in?"

"Because," I sigh, "the phones are unhooked, and they take everything once you get inside. There can't be any pictures, videos, or any proof of what happens at the party." I roll my eyes at the looks of content they all have thinking about what devious things might happen inside. A younger boy who was standing behind Leo walks up next to him and smiles as he nudges him. Leo then messes up his hair like he's a dog and smiles at him as well.

I'm sure the kid is not old enough to be attending one of these parties.

"If you're trying to get in, you should just come with us," Leo suggests and I see more people step out of the van.

"There's no way in without an invitation."

"Name one place that only has _one_ door?" He smiles slyly and walks in the direction of the line. I watch him for a second until he's out of sight, his friends follow after him as they all casually disappear around the building.

"He's going around back," I laugh to myself, "of course."

He's got the right idea, the back door won't be locked because the servers have to use it. They're still not going to be able to sneak in unnoticed. Not without me, at least.

I hurriedly tread the sidewalk as gently as possible because my shoes don't deserve to be abused. I see Leo and his friends crouched down behind a dumpster as one of the caters tosses out wasted food. Once she walks back, she leaves the door slightly open as if she plans to come back out again.

"Well," I say to him, "are you coming or not?"

**Scene 4: Fifth Avenue - Jace's House**

**Jace Kendal**

"This never gets old," Trevor smiles while two girls hold onto him and kiss his neck.

"You should slow down, Trev," I chuckle when I see him take out a bag of pills.

"You'll never be as young as you are now. Live every day like it's your last," He says poetically and places a pill on both of the girls' tongues, not taking one himself, though. "Don't worry, Jace, you know I don't do narcotics. But my girls? They're wild."

"Excuse me, miss." I stop one of the cater girls. "Can you bring us two more bottles, please?"

"And some ice...lots of it." Trevor's eyes scan down the lady's body. I wasn't shocked that his goto catering company usually does bachelor parties, and therefore, their servers are barely dressed.

I remember when that used to make me all shy and flustered. Heather hated that, but I couldn't help it. Trevor was a natural, always behaved way maturer than anyone I knew. He was an adult by age eleven, in my opinion. At his thirteenth birthday party, he had a glass of champagne. At his sweet sixteen, he had the finest grade of dark liquor he could find...which led to most of us waking up confused on his floor with sharpie on our faces and colorful feather boas around our necks. Mine was yellow.

I sigh as I lean back on the velvet sofa. We closed in one area so everyone would think it's more important. There are sheer curtains hanging down that we can see out of, but no one can see into.

"Did you want one?" Trevor offers me one of the girls he let in.

"No, dude, you know I'm with Heather."

"I don't see her."

"I'm not doing that, man." I shake my head disapprovingly and decide to leave.

It's funny because Trevor and heather are kind of friends. Though, he doesn't think I should be tied down. He always says, "You're too young to have a wife." I disagree, obviously. Who doesn't want to marry their high school sweetheart?

When I step out of the curtained area, I'm welcomed by the chaos of the party happening in my very own living room. It's not your typical house party, rich kids go crazy in their own way— drugging themselves or drugging each other until they're messed up enough to think they're having fun. Then it all leads to poor dancing skills and sloppy sex anywhere that no one will see them.

I see the waitress returning to our personal V.I.P. area and walk up to her before she could disappear in it. "Thank you," I smile and take one of the bottles from the ice pail.

Once she passes me by, I consider putting the bottle down, because, for a second, I swear I see Heather in the crowd of people. I narrow my eyes and start moving toward her, ignoring the people in my way as if my path was clear. "Heath-" I start to say before I am roughly bumped into by someone, sending their drink onto their clothes.

Better them than me, but when I look up again, Heather is gone.

I narrow my eyes and search the room, catching a glimpse of what I believe is her being pulled away by someone in plaid.

No way they were invited.

**Scene 5: Jace's Bedroom**

**Leo Rylin**

"Leo, let me go," Heather huffed and pulled away from me, "we can't be in here, this is Jace's room."

"You think I don't know that?" I chuckled, "I'm looking for something." 

"For what?"

"I know he has it," I muttered under my breath as I rummaged through his dresser before moving on to his nightstand.

"Tell me or...I'll go get Jace."

I look over at her and smirk at her flustered appearance, all crossed armed and pouty. Cute.

"Silence, butterfly. I'm doing everyone a favor." I pull on one dresser that won't open. "Bingo." I sigh and reach under the nightstand, searching for a key that was all too easily found. "What a cliché." I chuckle to myself and twist the key in the lock, smiling once I hear it click.

Heather watches me intently as I reach into the drawer, grab a VHS tape, and hide it under the waistband of my jeans.

"...What is that, Leo?"

"Bad news, trust me." I walk past her, and she remained frozen, probably saddened by the fact that her _'future senator'_ boyfriend is mixed up into something she was left out of. " _Heather_ ," I sing-song, "I thought we weren't allowed in his room." I extend my arm out for her to take my hand.

She snaps back into reality and nods before following after me, though, she denied my gesture.

I let her go in peace, this is her scene, after all. None of my friends, however, are anywhere to be found. Not even Zach, who I expected to be taking full advantage of the free alcohol for minors.

Central parties suck.

Is anyone actually having fun here? Who puts on designer dresses and suits to come to a house party. The music is awful as well, a mix between pop and EDM, maybe? It's like...Madonna meets Ace of Bass, and it's absolute garbage. I genuinely feel bad for the people that consider this a good time.

A party on the lower east side, now _that's_ a good time. Sometimes we get local bands to play our living rooms or even backyards if we have one. We get beer kegs and finger foods instead of minibars and catering services. We dress in clothes that we can easily take off because we all know where we'll end up later on...probably someone's bed.

I grab a drink and sit on a stool at the bar this kid actually has built into his fucking house. Whatever is in this fancy glass is actually kind of good...I think it's a martini. Regardless, I feel slightly less respectable for drinking alcohol with an olive in it.

Heather is still standing where I left her, irritation clearly laced over her body language. Maybe if we're brought together for another party, it'll be in lower Manhattan so she can have some actual fun.

"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave the premises." I turn to my right and see a giant security guard, his hand gripping my shoulder as he waits for me to get up. I huffed but did as he said once I saw another security guard behind him.

"I really didn't need an escort to show me where the exit is." I shrugged him off once we reached the door. He didn't respond, just kept a cold glare as he walked back into Jace's wealth.

"There he is," Val sighed in annoyance, "we were going to leave you."

"You guys got kicked out too?" I furrow my eyebrows. "How'd they catch us all so fast?"

"About that..." Danny said hesitantly as he scratched the back of his neck. "Val and I were doing a bit of shopping. We hit the gold mine, literally, but the rent-a-cops caught us before we made it out."

"You guys were stealing? Are you stupid? There are cameras all over that place." I shake my head in disappointment, "What is this, amateur hour?"

"We know that _now,_ they'd been looking for us ever since we snuck in. They saw that too." Danny shrugs, "but they probably would've let us stay if we didn't try to pocket the jewelry."

Really? Then where's Heath-

"Let go of me! Oh, my god!" We all focused our attention on our tag-along princess as she got carried through the doors by two of the security guards. I cross my arms and watch in amusement as they chase her around and grab her when she tries to run back inside. " _Ugh!"_ Heather groans when they overpower her and shut the door in her face.

"Need a ride, butterfly?"

She shoots me a cold glare. "No, you got us kicked out, moron."

I smirk, "Ouch..."

Heather walks over to the curb and tries to hail a cab. She knows it would be easier to let us driver her home, but no, her poor pride wouldn't be able to stand it.

Two taxis pass her by without a second thought, yet she doesn't give up. And, instead of piling in the van like everyone else, I wait in the chilled air with her, taking out the VHS tape and pulling out the rope before tossing it in the street. Heather sees this and our eyes meet before she returns to failing at catching a ride.

"I know you live close by."

"Yes...so, I'll walk." She continues to behave stubbornly as if she isn't practically shivering in her tiny black dress.

"It's like 40 degrees. You'll freeze to death." Heather ignored me and keeps her eyes on the nearest crosswalk. "My offer isn't going to stand forever...going once..." I start to walk backward toward the van. "Going twice..."

"Wait-" she gives in. "Helmsley Hotel, do you know where it is?"

"Of course you live there," I scoff in disbelief. That place is a palace. "Come on, get in." I slide open the van door and watch as they scurry around trying to make room for a new person.

"I'll get in the back," Zach gets up from his seat.

"Like hell, you will. Stay where you are, _we'll_ get in the back." I help Heather into the van.

Zach knows the backseat has no seatbelts.

"Are we all settled now? Can I finally fucking drive?" Danny complains.

"Yeah, shut up and go." I brush off his annoyed tone. "To Heather's first, she stays at _the Helmsley_ _,"_ I say mockingly and laugh at the quiet, sly comments coming from the others. I can't hear them, but I can only imagine what they must be saying. The little princess disregards us and stares out of the window, I know she can hardly see anything, Danny does a poor job at cleaning this thing. "Hey," I nudge her, "we didn't mean to get you kicked out with us, you should've found your boyfriend instead of hanging with me."

"Are you kidding me? You dragged me with you," she hissed.

"I wasn't holding you hostage, and even when you did leave, you didn't seem to want the company of your friends, butterfly."

"I couldn't find them, and if you would have just-" Heather interrupts her harsh whispering with a gasp when Danny suddenly slams on the brakes. I brace myself with one hand and use the other to keep Heather in place, only removing my arm from her body once I felt her breathing start to calm.

"You were saying?"

"Just forget it..." she runs her hand through her hair and turns away from me again.

The rest of the ride goes without scares like that, but I continue to keep Heather in place whenever Danny shows why he shouldn't have his license.

We pass by many buildings that are inhabited by New York's richest, and I start to wonder what it's like waking up every day to a maid ironing your clothes and a butler bringing you food.

What is it about the good life that breeds such spoiled ingrates that can't even show gratitude when you're doing something nice for them?

"This is the place, right?" Danny asks and Matt slides open the door so that Heather can get a better look.

"Yeah..." she mumbles and steps out of the car.

I huff and lean back in my seat when she walks off without another word.

A simple "thank you" would suffice.


	4. These Are My Friends

**Scene 1: The Palace Hotel**

**Trevor Bailey**

"What are you thinking? Red?" I hold the satin red tie over my chest, "I think red looks good on me. There's a sort of power aspect."

"You look dashing, sir." My butler Harry complimented.

"I wasn't asking you, but thanks anyway," I sigh. "Jace!"

"What? What do you want?" He groans as he runs his hand through his hair.

"Have you not been listening this whole time?" I narrow my eyes at him. I invited him over for breakfast and let him borrow my clean up crew for the mess the party made. I expected him to have a hangover, I didn't expect him to be pouting like an orphanevery second of the day **.**

"Yeah, man. I've been listening. I'm just-"

"You're justdrowning every room in _fucking_ misery. I'm trying to have a good day, Jace," I huff and shake my head. "Harry, wait outside the door, please. My friend and I have important matters to discuss."

"Will do, sir." He nods and I wait for him to leave the room before I turn to Jace.

"What is wrong with you?" I ask in a more sympathetic tone.

"After the party last night...when I went into my room, there was a drawer open..."

I snicker, "what was stolen? Your dignity?"

"The tape."

"The tape?" My heart stops in my chest. "What tape? And I swear to god if you say Ryan's tape I will-."

"Yes, Ryan's tape," Jace says, his voice sounding scratchy.

 _"You fucking kept it?"_ I shouted but then stepped back and took a deep breath. If we speak too loudly, Harry will hear and might tell my father of our conversation. "Jace, my dear friend, I thought we agreed to destroy the tape and every copy of it. What possessed you to keep it? If jail sounds appealing to you, I can buy you a pretty prostitute to put you in handcuffs."

That tape places us at the scene of a merry little homicide we swore _under oath_ that we knew nothing about.

"I thought that— maybe we could get a few lawyers and get ourselves out of this for good. You know, have a clear conscience _and_ a clean record."

"I told you 'no' the first time you suggested that, Jace," I said through gritted teeth, "we left a crime scene. We were there. We did nothing to prevent it and for all they know, _we_ helped kill Ryan and watched him die."

"We were high!"Jace balled up his fists, "it was a really bad trip...we were useless to him like that. I couldn't even feel my legs, you had to drag me out of the room, remember?"

"Is that what you planned on telling the police?" I ask, "that we would have helped but we were too far gone on illegal drugs?"

"No-"

"But Ryan was high on something worse, right? Something that had him lying there drooling while they beat the life out of him. Way to smear a dead man's name, Jace. No one liked the guy but that's still messed up. I think his family prefers the _'being killed by burglars'_ story they gave the papers." I cross my arms in annoyance.

"I get it, okay? I know, I messed up. But- what now?"

"Isn't your place covered head to toe in security cameras?" I question. He got in trouble when we were fourteen because he tried to smuggle whiskey for us when I slept over one night. I'm pretty sure he was caught on tape.

"Yeah, but there aren't any in my room. I'm sure you can figure out why..." He narrows his eyes at me.

"For fuck's sake, Jace. I'm not saying that there's dozens of footage of you with your hand around your dick. I'm saying that if there's a camera in the hallway, whoever stole it will be up there."

"No..." Jace sighs, "I made sure the cameras were on but not recording. I didn't want my parents finding out about the party."

"Dammit," I groaned. "I'll make a call to my lawyers and get them to prepare for a case."

"Well, I don't think whoever took it plans to tell anyone about it...or else we'd be arrested by now."

**Scene 2: Madison Avenue**

**Audrey Michaels**

"I'm glad it's you here, today. You have better taste in clothes thanAlison does." I link arms with Heather as we strut down the sidewalk.

"We're shopping? I thought you invited me out for lunch," she frowned.

"Oh, cheer up," I playfully rolled my eyes at her. "We'll eat first if that is what you want."

"Well, seeing as though I'm running on water and adrenaline, that _is_ what I want."

"What'd you do last night that had you sleeping through breakfast?" I smirk, "...Jace, perhaps?"

"No," Heather laughs. "I did attend his party, however."

"And you didn't stay with him? Are you two fighting about something?" I ask out of shameless curiosity. To outsiders, their relationship seems perfect, everyone wants what they have. But if you're near them for a while, it's obvious that they just feel comfortable together. It's sad, really. I'm bored just looking at them, I can't imagine how bored they are being a couple.

"No, we're perfect. I had business with some other people, people you wouldn't know," Heather shrugged nonchalantly.

"I know the president. If you were hanging out with people I don't know then they aren't worth knowing."

"I guess not then," she backs down too easily.

"Come on, give me their names," I nudge her.

"It's not important," Heather brushes me off.

"If it's-"

"Hey, look, croissants," She pauses at a café across from Vera Wang. I was seconds away from protesting, but she entered without me, leaving me to follow after her.

She eagerly stood at the counter, admiring all the baked goods they had on display. I don't particularly indulge in bread or anything high in carbs unless it's a Sunday. Fortunately, they had other things.

Heather ordered a croissant with fresh fruit and whipped cream, along with a caramel cappuccino. She's swallowing grams upon grams of sugar, it's a heart attack _begging_ to happen. I ordered a peach yogurt parfait and water. I want to be able to fit into next year's spring collection.

We took a seat by the window and watched the elites storm the streets with bags full of designer clothes and boxes of diamonds. This is the purest state of life. I love that I belong here.

"Heather..." I say as I twirl my spoon in my yogurt.

"Hm?" She hums as she sips her coffee.

"I volunteered us to host _'The Addington Autumn Ball,_ ' I already have everything planned out...but a few days before the dance, I'll need you to run some errands."

I've been planning this ballsince the last one. I was on the committee last year but no one would take my ideas because I was an underclassman. This time, the autumn ball is _mine._

"The Ball isn't until next month, there's no way you planned it all out already."

"Do you realize who you're talking to?" I raise an eyebrow, "I won't be married until I'm 25 and my husband has graduated medical school with his doctorate degree, but I still have the wedding planned out." And I do. The duke and duchess will be sitting in the front next to Claudia Schiffer and Karl Lagerfeld. Naomi Campbell and Christy Turlington will be in the second row on my husband's side. Most importantly though, Chris O'Donnell, my lover, will be my husband's best man.

"God, I haven't even bought a dress for that yet," she groans.

"For my wedding?" I furrow my eyebrows. _As if_ she has a choice on what she's going to wear.

"No, Audrey, we're talking about the dance."

"Well, you have to match with Jace so maybe you should decide together," I suggest and she looks off into the distance instead of agreeing with me. "...You do plan on going with Jace, don't you?" My eyes narrow.

"Yes, of course, who else would I go with? He's my boyfriend." My skeptical expression does not fade because that was the obvious default response.

"I don't know, you tell me. You're the one running around with people you want to hide from everyone else."

"Audrey, drop it," Heather says sternly.

"Does Jace know about your strange company," I continue pressing her. "I bet it's really fun sneaking around like that."

"I'm not sneaking around with anyone, can you just stop?"

Her jaw clenches, a sure-fire sign that she's withholding the truth and I can _always_ tell when someone is lying. Heather is way too easy, burdened with the biggest conscience. I know if I push hard enough, she will break sooner or later.

"Whoever it is must be really cute, cuter than Jace and cuter than the little Kendal babies you would have had together if the mystery guy didn't steal you away from him," I say slyly and look away from her as I put another spoonful of yogurt in my mouth.

"That's it, I'm going home," Heather rolls her eyes and stands up from the table

"Home to Jace? Or the people I don't know?"

"Call me when you're not being a bitch, okay, Audrey?" She glares before walking out of the door.

**Scene 3: Madison Street**

**Leo Rylin**

"Sweetie, I'm home," my mom calls out as she walks into the apartment. "Help me with the groceries, please."

I groan and tap Matt on the shoulder, signaling for him to come help as well. I opened my door and we walked out toward the kitchen.

"Hey, Ms. Rylin," Matt smiled as he took a bag out of her arms.

"Oh, Matthew, what a pleasant surprise. How's your mother doing, is she alright?"

"Ah, yeah, she's the same as always," he laughs lightly before assisting me with unloading the groceries.

" _Leo_ ," She smiles, "guess what I brought?" I watch her take white containers out of one of the bags. "Your favorite!"

"Mom, you didn't have to buy this," I smile at the smell of the stir fry and fried rice.

"I had a little extra saved over after I paid all the bills and went grocery shopping," she shrugged. "Thought I'd bring takeout for my jellybean." Her thumb brushes over my cheek endearingly.

"I begged you not to call me that in front of my friends," I sigh and look over to Matt who is choking on his laughter.

"No, come on, jellybean. Don't be like that. It's adorable," he continues laughing.

"You see what you do?" I groan and my mom just waves me off.

"I used to call him all sorts of things but he claimed he was 'too old' for all my nicknames." She tells Matt, "but I just had to keep jellybean, I've called him that since he was a baby. My little jellybean." She puts her hand over her heart.

"It was the least humiliating thing you called me, I _let_ you keep it. It was better than cookie-monster and cupcake."

" _Cupcake?"_ Matt hunched over as he laughed hysterically. "Oh my god, man. I'm going to ruin your chances with every girl by bringing _that_ one up."

"Alright, that's enough," I stop them both. "Come on, Matt. The show is about to start." I grab some of the food and head back to my room.

Matt follows after me and flops onto my bed with his mouth full and food in his hands.

"Hey, be careful! Can you try not to spill Chinese food on my bed? I just got these sheets washed," I complain while picking up pieces of rice from the linen.

"There's probably been a lot worse on your bed than fried rice," he says suggestively.

"Yeah, well, that's none of your business," I smirk and sit on the bed next to him."Now...are you ready for this?"

"Hell, yeah. Fucking Radiohead, turn on the tv," Matt says excitedly as I reach for the remote.

Matt and I share the same taste in music and always plan a little sit in every time _MTV Unplugged_ books a good band. It's as close as we've ever gotten to an actual live concert from these people.It used to be more of us who hung out here together, but after a while, they all found something better, I guess.

I saw Danny near the park earlier, but he was with Val and she barely let him wave at me. She's had him on a pretty short leash since they started dating a few months ago. I warned him about getting in a relationship, I couldn't handle giving away my free will for a girl. He's always buying her things and calling her a thousand times a day just to end up seeing her later on. Sounds more like voluntary incarceration than dating.

"Hey, look who it is," I point toward Zach climbing onto my fire escape. He taps on the window with his knuckles covered by his sleeve. "Open it for him."

Zach lives downstairs, he moved in last year with his dad and _really_ hot older sister. I tried a bunch to get with her, but she managed to lock down this college guy and you can't compete with college guys.

"Did you start without me?" Zach asks once he gets his feet back on the ground.

"No, we just turned it on. Sit down, I'll get you a soda and some food."

He hopped on the end of my bed causing Matt to almost spill his food again. "Just the soda, I ate before I got here."

"Cool."

I grab two sodas in my hands for Matt and Zach and then place a cream soda under my arm for me. I rarely drink soda but whoever thought of making a cream flavor deserves a presidential award, maybe even the presidency itself.

"See you in the morning, jellybean." My mom rushes over to give me a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Tell your friends I said goodbye, as well."

I sigh, "you work too hard."

She's here when I wake up in the morning but leaves when It's time for me to go to school, that's when her shift at the bakery uptown starts. I see her again in the evening, two or three hours after I get home, but then she has to leave for her second job, she's a waitress at the diner not too far from our apartment.

"I work because I love you." She ruffles my hair before grabbing her jacket and keys. "Don't go to sleep too late and try not to make any messes, okay, Leo?"

"Yeah, alright. I love you too." I wave her off as she leaves out of the door. I had almost forgotten that I was holding the sodas until I felt my hands getting numb and water started dripping off the cans. "Uh— Grape right, your favorite?" I ask Zach.

"Ah, you remembered." He smiled and took the soda from me.

"My favorite is orange but thanks anyway," Matt complains when I hand him a grape soda as well.

I shake my head and sit down next to him on the bed. "You want orange? Go get your own soda then."


	5. Sunday Night Live

**Scene 1: Jace's Car**

**Heather Blakely**

"Would you just calm down?" Jace huffed and slammed his hands against the steering wheel.

"No! Why should I?" I shouted at him.

"Because you're overreacting!"

"You bring me out to some sleazy bar in poor town when there are _plenty_ of better bars closer to home, one your family owns, might I add. If that wasn't bad enough, you didn't pay a cent of attention to me the whole time we were there. And to top it all off, I find out we went there so you could meet some slut, yeah?"

He sighs, "that's not true, babe."

"Maybe you're right, she's not the slut, _you_ are."

"We didn't come to meet her, it was a coincidence!"

"Sure, it was." I roll my eyes, "just take me home, Jace."

"Whatever, Heather." He gives up, finally deciding to turn the car on and pull out of the parking space marked by faded white lines. The bar, _Liquid Dream,_ was filled to the brim with motorcycle gangs and punk kids who looked like colorful vampires. We had to pay the bartender, a 40-year-old man with metal hanging out of every free piece of skin, $100 to serve us drinks because we're minors. The place was a joke.

I can see Jace continuously glance over at me from the corner of my eye, but I don't give him the satisfaction of acknowledgment. I hear him sigh before his hand moves to the radio and he presses play on a CD he has in.

Fucking _The Outfield._ If I have to hear the "Play Deep" album one more time I'll implode.

I reach over and eject the disk.

"Okay, Heather, are you done yet?" He says in annoyance, but I don't respond. "How long are you going to be upset? You're jealous because of Rayanne? That's stupid. One day, we'll laugh about this."

"Rayanne...so that's her name?" I shrug. "Do you bring all your girlfriends to meet your pretty blue-haired friend? Or am I just special?"

"Yeah, yeah, Heather. Real special," he scoffs. "You're a pain in the ass, that's what you are."

"Oh, and what makes you so much better, huh? Please, I'm dying to know."

"I'm not the one being a bitch!" I gasped, my jaw dropping in shock. He let out a breath to calm himself down and ran one of his hands through his hair. "Heather...you know I didn't mean-"

"Pull over!" I shouted.

"Baby, don't be like this."

"Now, Jace! Or I swear I will-"

"Fine, God," he groaned and shifted to the side of the road, pulling up near a diner. As soon as the car came to a stop, I angrily fiddled with the lock before opening the door. "Where are you going, babe?"

"Away from you!" I slam his car door.

"Please get back in the car, it's not safe for you to be out here this late. Not in this part of the city." _Oh,_ you didn't think of that when you took me to that gross bar.

"I don't need you, Jace. I never did." I smirk deviously. Though, this is probably the most reckless thing I'll do tonight.

"That hurts..." He looks as if he expects me to take it back.

"Good."

As much as I would like to get back in the car and be embraced by the heat. My pride carried me into the diner, instead.

I subtly glanced out the window until I saw his car pull off. _Wow_ _, he really left me here._

"Hey, honey, dine-in or takeout?" A nice blonde waitress greets me.

"Uh— I'm not eating," I say politely. "Can I just wait here, please?"

"Sure, sweetie, go right ahead. Take any table you'd like."

I nod in thanks and head over to an empty booth. My driver is off duty seeing as though it's almost eleven o'clock on a Sunday night, but I can always get my dad to call another.

I reach into my coat pocket for where I left my pager— and my start stills when I don't find it. My hands worriedly begin scrounging through my bag for it, instead, but it's not there either.

"You have got to be kidding me," I whine to myself at the idea of it falling out in the car.

At this point, if I get mugged and murdered in poor town, God would have been doing me a favor.

**Scene 2: The Palace Hotel**

**Trevor Bailey**

"When are we going to start having fun? I've never been bored at your house, man. This is new and I don't like it," Ethan says jokingly, but I can tell he actually means it.

"Well, I didn't tell you to come over. It's Sunday night. Go home."

"No, my parents are totally fucking manic. They're arguing at one point and screwing the next. I'm getting whiplash."

"Ew," I chuckle. "Why are your parents getting more action than you? It's sad you come over here on the weekends instead of literally _anywhere_ else. With a girl, perhaps."

"With what girl? Brooke and I stopped messing around months ago."

"Why, did her boyfriend finally catch you?" I smirk.

"No, I'm too good to be caught," Ethan says arrogantly.

"Or...Brooke's boyfriend is a dumb-ass."

Brooke Hampton, informally known as the "school slut." However, I don't believe in using such a crude term to describe a girl who just wants to utilize her assets...even when in a relationship.

Ethan, on the other hand, doesn't believe in relationships. But, I happen to know of a girl who _desperately_ wants to change that.

"You know what? You want to have some fun? Let's play a game..." A mischievous idea comes to mind. "Truth or dare, how's that sound?"

"Sounds like we're not in junior high and there's only two of us," he gives me a look of disbelief at my suggestion.

"Well, that doesn't matter because there's no truths and only one dare," I say quickly as I sit up on my bed. "I dare you to ask out Alison Sinclair."

"Alison...why?"

"Because Audrey told me she was into you." I smile, " _really_ into you."

"You're joking..." He laughs. "All I did was flirt with the poor girl."

"Yeah, flirted her into falling in love with you."

"Oh, god," Ethan groans and lays back on my bed laughing. "What _exactly_ did Audrey say to you?"

"Her exact words were," I clear my throat and do my best impression of a girl, " _Not to be dramatic but...Alison would literally die for Ethan."_

"I've got to stop doing this," he sighs and shakes his head. "I might've called her 'baby' a few too many times, given her too many compliments, and touched her a little too much." Ethan puts his hands up in surrender, "if that made her think I was into her, my bad."

"Don't stop now, you've got a dare to do." I stand up from off of my bed and walk over to my dresser. "Here's the deal, you ask Alison out on a date and get her to _let_ you take some pretty pictures of her," I grab my Polaroid camera, "and I'll give you the keys to my Bentley."

"The platinum one?" His eyes widen.

"The platinum one." I hand him the camera.

"...it's a deal."

**Scene 3: Val's Apartment**

**Danny Cole**

" _Danny_ , the movie," Val whined as I kissed up her neck.

"Forget about it, I've already seen it." My hand creeps up her thigh while the blanket covers us.

"But Cherry is here." She stops me.

"She can watch..." I say slyly and Val giggles at my indifference.

"You two are disgusting," Cherry scoffs and rolls her eyes.

"You can always leave. That would make things a lot better for all three of us," I shrug and Val hits my chest.

"Don't leave, Cherry. This was supposed to be a girls night, I didn't know he was coming over."

"If you were going to ruin things, you could've at least brought Leo with you," Cherry continued to complain.

"You're still hot for him?" I furrow my eyebrows.

 _It's cute,_ _she can't tell he doesn't care._

"That depends, is he hot for someone else?" She purses her lips.

"Not really, I mean, he's always had a crush on little Zach's older sister Peyton, but even _he_ knows that'll never happen."

"He and I can happen," she sighs. "I want him so bad. I don't understand it." I give her a look of concern, and her eyes widen like she forgot I was in the room. "Don't tell him I said any of that, okay, Dan?"

"It's _Danny_ , not Dan. Danny is already a nickname, you can't give me a nickname for my nickname." _Fuck's sake, you're irritating._

"Promise me you won't say anything," Cherry pleads.

"I won't, I promise," I say with frustration coursing through my voice. "I don't care enough to deliver messages for you, Cherry, and I doubt he'd care enough to hear them."

"You don't have to be so mean to her, baby," Val says lowly and combs her fingers through my hair to soothe me. "She's just curious...he was with that Park Avenue girl last week."

"Heather Blakely?" I snicker. "He's got a better chance with _Peyton_ than Heather."

"They seemed comfortable to me," Cherry adds.

"They were together for most of the party," Val agrees.

"That's because we were only there for like fifteen minutes and she's the reason we got in," I narrow my eyes at them.

"Doesn't matter, I don't like her and there's a chance he might," Cherry crosses her arms.

"There's no way he would even let that rich bitch blow him."

**Scene 4: Pinkie's Diner**

**Leo Rylin**

"Leonardo, what are you doing here?" My mom said in her stern maternal voice.

"I came to see you, obviously," I put my arms out and go in for a hug, but she pushes me back.

"You have school in the morning, Leo."

"What does that have to do with right now?" I smile and she playfully hits me.

"You saw me, now go back home."

"Maybe after some pie..." I raise my eyebrows.

She rolls her eyes but gives in to shut me up. "One slice, that's it."

"Anda cream soda, can't forget the soda."

"Don't push it, Leo."

I nod in response instead of saying anything because my focus was captured by something else. Before I got settled in at my table, I spotted a girl across the room.

_Heather?_

"What is she doing this far from home?"

"Do you know her? She's been here for a while..."

"Did she order anything?" I question. _Pinkie's_ is good, but I doubt it's better than the food at the five-star restaurants she's used to.

"No, I brought her a complimentary water but she hasn't touched it," my mom sighs. "Maybe you should go talk to her, shemight be in some trouble."

"That's none of my business," I laugh to myself and finally take a seat at the table.

"Leo...that's not nice." My mom gives me a look of disappointment.

" _What?_ It's nothing money can't solve and she has plenty of that." I don't look her in the eyes because I know I sound like an asshole **.**

"Money can't buy happiness and you know that."

"I know nothing because I don't have money to pour down the drain like she and every other central does," I say defensively.

"Well, I'm sorry..."

"Mom, don't apologize. You know I don't blame you for that."

"Sure, Leo...do what you feel is right, I'll get your pie." She walked away, clearly saddened by my lack of care for Heather.

I try really hard not to give her any problems because she takes care of me on her own.But, regardless of that, I'm a selfish individual. Maybe it's because I'm an only child, I've never had to sacrifice for anyone else so _"setting my pride aside_ " has never been on my to-do list. Therefore, what do you _mean_ by "Do what you feel is right?" I'm not familiar with the phrase, but if you want me to do what _you_ think is right...I might to make you proud.

I huff before moving toward where Heather is sitting alone. I pass my mom as I walk by and she couldn't hide the smile on her face. I just shook my head and continued walking.

"You are aware that this is the _lower east_ side, right?" Heather looks away from the window and allows our eyes to meet.

I must be getting drowsy because she almost seems relieved to see me.

"Yeah, I know," she sighed.

"Are you waiting for someone...or?"

"No, you can sit, if you want," Heather offers and I oblige against my better judgment.

If we weren't in my parts of town she wouldn't want to be caught dead with me.

"Why are you here, Heather?" I finally ask.

"...Well, because-" she hesitates like she's embarrassed to tell me, "Jace and I got into a fight and I made him pull over and let me out of the car. I know that sounds stupid considering where we are right now but— it's just that he took me to this gross bar so he could meet some tramp named Rayanne when we planned _weeks_ ago to go on a date tonight."

"Rayanne?" My eyebrows furrow at the familiar name.

"Some cheap girl with a bad dye-job and skimpy clothes." She scowls, "Is she one of yours?"

What's _that_ supposed to mean?

"If you're asking if she lives out here then yeah, she's close," I scowl back at her.

Forgive me for thinking Heather was one of the tolerable centrals, I was wrong.

"Anyway, I left my stuff in his car, and now I don't have any way to let anyone know I'm here. I'm stranded," she says sadly. "I was going to wait until the sun came up and then walk until I found a taxi, you know, if Jace doesn't come back. It's too dangerous at night."

"You've got that right, but your plan is stupid. Why didn't you just ask to use the phone here?"

"I didn't think they had one..." Heather says lowly.

"Wow," I laugh in disbelief. "You people really believe the lower class live like cavemen."

"Leo...I didn't mean to offend you, I just assumed that-"

"You assumed wrong," I cut her off, "the phone's toward the back, near the restrooms." I direct her and she gives me a small smile before heading for it.

When she disappeared behind everything, my mom eagerly came rushing toward me.

"So...how is everything?"

"Fine, she just needed a phone," I shrug. "But, where's my pie?"

" _Leo_ , I didn't want to bring the pie and interrupt things if it was a serious situation."

"What? The pie is more important than her," I scoff.

"How about I bring a slice for both of you? It seems like it's been a rough night," my mom suggests.

"No, she's leaving. Just bring me both slices."

"I will not, I want you to go to sleep, not into a sugar-induced coma."

"I'll be out either way-" I stop speaking when Heather comes back to the table.

"Jace is coming back to get me."

"You really called _him_ again?" This girl is unbelievable.

"Yeah?" She shrugged, "he said he didn't go far, he wanted to be near in case I called him, and I did," She tries to defend her still stupid actions.

"He shouldn't have left you in the first place," I argue.

"Leo, let her call whoever she wants. In the end, she's still getting home safely," my mom intervenes.

"Yeah, sure," I say in annoyance. "Mom, this is Heather Blakely. Heather, this is my mom."

"Blakely? As in...Blakely Designs?"

"Yes," Heather smiles, "it's nice to meet you Ms. Rylin."

"You can call me Isabel, darling," she smiles back. "I'm a big fan of your mother's work, I see her clothes in all of the magazines," she fawns and I roll my eyes.

"Aw, she'd be flattered to hear that, thank you," Heather says with gratitude.

"You're very welcome, beautiful," She compliments. "I should be getting back to work, now. You have a nice rest of the night, Heather."

"You too, Isabel." Heather waves as my mom walks off into the kitchen. "She's so sweet."

"The sweetest." I say sarcastically, "I need to go home soon. When's your boyfriend getting here?"

"I don't know...but you don't have to wait with me. You can leave."

"I know I _can,_ but I'm not going to until he comes for you."

"Why?"

 _Why?_ Such a simple question yet I don't want to answer it. I feel like it comes with too many lines you can read between. Truthfully, I wouldn't dare walk out of this diner while she's sitting here alone. When I saw her here, the way she was...sad and obviously scared, I knew I was going to stay longer than intended. When I walked up to her and she visibly relaxed at the sight of me, there was no way I was going to take that away from her.

Sure, we're not friends, but..."I wouldn't be able to sleep tonight knowing I left you by yourself."


	6. Life As We Know It

**Scene 1: World History**

**Alison Sinclair**

I understand the entire concept of history class is so that we don't repeat the past, but what's the purpose of learning about who invented steel or whatever? Now that we have it, who cares?

Also, what's the point of other countries'  
history? I don't live in Greece or England so how are their religion and government relevant to me?

Mr. Holstein only makes it worse. The sound of his voice makes me wonder which one of us is more bored.

"Psst, Alison..." I hear my name being called out and turn around to see a boy I hardly know. "This is for you," he holds out a folded paper.

I take it from him, no questions asked, and turn back around before Mr. Holstein notices.

I smile and feel my face heating up before I even open the letter _"To Alison,_ f _rom Ethan"_ written with hearts after our names. My breathing quickens in anticipation as I try to focus my mind enough to read.

 _"Hey, Ali, I know this seems immature, but I'm hoping you'll think it's cute enough to maybe go out with me sometime. Check 'yes' or 'no.' Love, Ethan."_ I giggle at the _"Warning, this might break my heart"_ message by the box marked "no," before checking the one marked "yes." I jot down my number and address at the bottom of the page, along with a restaurant I like before handing the letter back to the boy behind me.

I want to watch Ethan get the letter back and take a mental picture of his reaction but I know that would just weird him out or get me in trouble. Instead, I sit patiently and pretend that the idea of him and I being together is new to me.

Somehow I've managed to master the skill of pretending I don't think about him all the time. It comes in handy when we're close. The only person I've ever told is Audrey...and I was silly to think she wouldn't tell anyone else. "What does it matter? Ethan doesn't know," she said.

Though, I want nothing more than for him to feel what I feel for him.

Heavy.

**Scene 2: Addington Courtyard**

**Leo Rylin**

"There you are, Rylin? What took you so long?" Danny sighs when he sees me. I asked him to meet up with me after class, but class ended almost 5 minutes ago.

"Sorry, I had to make a few stops before I got here."

Truthfully, I was trying to convince Ms. Chang to give me extra credit work for physics. Turns out, if I don't pass first semester, they can recommend me for summer school at Chester High, 30 minutes away from here, and almost an hour away from home. I've been there a few times with Danny to pick up Zach, but that's only when we're already close. Chester is where the burnouts who didn't get into Addington went.

"Well, come on, we've been standing here long enough. I don't like the way these centrals keep looking at us." I watch as he glares at them.

We let the centrals have the interior courtyard because they were here first and always made a big fuss when we hung around too. There's plenty of space for all of us. I mean, it has benches, tables, and random decorative trees. It's close to the back halls so everyone makes it to class on time. It's a nice spot and it kinda sucked to give it up but sacrifices needed to be made.

"They probably wouldn't have noticed if you showed up alone like I asked." He brought a posse with him as if I called for backup or something.

"What are we doing? A ransom drop?" He says sarcastically. "What's with the secrets and hiding?"

"Well," I look behind me to make sure no one is listening, "It's probably nothing, but I heard Kendal is going out of his way to talk to Rayanne."

"That Jace kid?" Danny furrows his eyebrows. "Do you think they're fucking?"

"What? You think Rayanne would let him?"

"Yes?" Danny laughs. "She lets everyone."

"She let you?"

"Yeah, you too, right?"

"I mean...yeah, but still. Not Jace, he's with Heather," I shake my head.

"So? Our girls get dirty. I've been with a central chick, they're as boring as their personalities."

"I don't know...I think he was talking to her because of what happened...at the hotel," I say worriedly.

"...With Ryan?"

"Yeah..."

"Why would he care about that now? After all this time."

"Because I stole the tape he had with a copy of the footage from that night," I speak as if it's not a big deal.

Danny stops walking,"...There are _copies?"_

"Not anymore."

"There shouldn't have been a tape in the first place, _fuck_ , you all are so stupid without me," Danny huffed.

He wasn't there the night Ryan was killed. We invited him to go out with us but he wasn't into the whole "working" with the centrals idea. He thought it was a bad idea, and we should've listened to him. Ryan wasn't even a central, he was from the Upper West Side but everyone still knew him.

"No one knew there were cameras."

"Obviously, if anyone knew, he wouldn't have died....there. We're lucky _you_ made it out alive."

"I'm smarter than you think, Danny."

I ran out before things got too crazy. The hotel clerk was already calling the police by the time I got downstairs. Of course, Ryan was probably dead by then.

"I'll get someone to see what Rayanne is saying," Danny sighs, "Don't worry about it."

**Scene 3: 55th Street**

**Audrey Michaels**

"AJ, I'm leaving now. I won't be back until the morning, are you going to come down to say goodbye?" My dad calls up the stairs.

AJ stands for Audrey Juliet, my middle name. My mother used to call me Audie, so now he refuses to do the same.

"No, but goodbye. Love you," I say quickly.

With his line of work, he's not home often. I give him a hug and a kiss goodbye every time he leaves, but today I can't...

I unzip my purse and pull out the small bag I shoved into it. Inside the bag is a box, and inside the box is something that determines how badly I messed up.

My breath hitches at the sound of knocking against my bedroom door.

"Audrey?"

It was the voice of a woman but it didn't sound like my step-mother. _Katherine_ sounds like Beverly Hills trash because she is.

I rush into my bathroom and close the door, locking it behind me.

"Audrey, it's Alison." I hear her walk into my room.

"Just a second...I'll be right out." I try to sound calm as my shaky hands tear into the box containing the pregnancy test.

"Okay, I need to talk to you. It's kind of important," she says happily.

If it made _you_ happy, it's probably the opposite of important. You're as easily entertained as a puppy.

"Can't you just talk through the door?"

I'm really not in the position to do a face-to-face with her and pretend to care that she found a nail polish that perfectly matches her lipstick.

"Okay...sure, I guess," Alison says questionably. "You're not going to believe me when I tell you, it's so incredible I'm half convinced I'm dreaming-"

"Get to it, would you?"

"During fourth period, Ethan passed me a note..."

I roll my eyes, "and?"

I flush the toilet and keep the test in hand. The results are supposed to show in 30 seconds, but I feel like it's been a year already.

Alison continues, "And he likes me. He wants to go on a date."

I can tell just from her voice that she is practically oozing right now. Ethan Carey is nice in more ways than one. However, he isn't worth being infatuated over for so long. _Freshman year,_ Alison, you've loved him since freshman year. Boys don't just _"start"_ liking you back, especially boys like Ethan.

**Pregnant**

"Fuck..." I whisper quietly.

"Did you hear me, Audrey?" She knocks on the bathroom door, "hello?"

I groan in frustration. Too many things are happening at once.

"Alison, don't do it. You can't go out with him. You're better than that. _"_

 _Pregnant,_ _goddamn_ _pregnant._ Of course, I am. It was a spur of the moment thing, no condom used. He pulled out though..why is this happening if he pulled out?

I hear her scoff from the outside, "Are you kidding me? You know how long I've wanted this. After all the mixed signals and time I've spent crying over him, I owe it to myself to find out if it was all for nothing."

I sigh, "I feel for you, hun, I really do...but, Ethan has already been with so many girls." I drop the test in the bin and proceed to wash my hands.

"How many of them has he taken on dates?"

I open the door and find Alison sitting on my bed. "You're right, Ali. He's never taken the girls on dates. Just to his bedroom, and you know why you shouldn't go there?"

"Audre-"

"Because I've already been, and there's no way you'll _ever_ top me."

**Scene 4: Chester High**

**Leo Rylin**

"Why couldn't you let the twerp take the bus home like usual?" Danny complains.

"I think some kids have been bullying him. He's a little small, that's not fair."

"Zach? Bullied?" He questions like it doesn't sound possible...and I guess it doesn't, Zach doesn't do anything to anybody. What fucking asshole picks with the kid who doesn't bother anyone?

"He was a little banged up last week, and when I asked he said he fell off of his skateboard."

"Why don't you believe him?"

"Because he left his skateboard in my closet." I respond. "Besides, I wanted to check the place out more."

"Chester? What's the point, it's basically Addington as a public school, just with bad cafeteria food."

"Yeah, but...anything is better than Addington."

Danny doesn't respond, but I know we have the same opinion. Sure, Addington High is hell, but it's a comfortable burn at this point.

"There he is." Danny points toward the doors of the school where Zach is walking out with another guy. I watch as he talks and laughs with his friend until they part ways. He doesn't seem to notice that we're waiting here, so I roll down my window and prepare to call his name.

Before I can shout for Zach, I see a group of boys a little older than him staring and laughing as he caught their eye. At first, I thought nothing of it. Gossiping like teenage girls only reflects badly on them, right?

But then they approached him.

I get out of the van as quickly as possible, and they are already shoving him around. He pushed back, that's what we're taught where we're from, if you're hit, hit back. Even if you're losing, you don't stop fighting.

 _"Whatcha gonna do faggot?"_

"Hey!" I yelled as they grabbed him off of the ground by his shirt, "Let him go." They dropped him and he landed hard on his back.

"And who the hell are you?" The biggest one, a guy around my age, walked up to me.

"Why don't you try me and find out?"

"Yeah?" He smirks, clearly unfazed by my threat.

I hear the van door shut behind me, "Yeah," Danny says calmly.

I'm almost offended when they all run away immediately at the sight of Danny, but then I see the blade he brought with him.

"You didn't have to do that, I had them," Zach says lowly as I help him up.

"Sure you did, kid. Get in the van," I sigh and lead him to the curb, hanging back for a second to make sure he chose the seat that had a seatbelt. ****

"How often does that happen, Zach?" Danny asks.

"What do you mean?" Zach mumbles.

"How often are you thrown on the ground, kicked in the stomach, and called a fag?" Danny says angrily.

"Not that much..."

"For fuck's sake..." I huff. "You better tell me if it happens again, okay?"

"Okay," he nods.

"You swear?"

"Man, Leo...you guys showing up like that is only going to make things worse for me. They'll think I'm a narc."

"The fuck are they going to do about it, Zach?" I shout at him, and he puts his head down so he doesn't have to look at me.

The anger and hostility left a tense feeling in the van, so we drove in silence. I don't think anyone minded...I don't think anyone knew what to say.

The second year after we switched schools, I suggested getting Zach transferred to Addington somehow, but he didn't want to do it. Apparently, he has friends he doesn't want to leave behind, but I only ever see him with that one kid. And why can't he hang with him outside of school?

"Are you two hungry?" Danny interrupts the quiet.

I mutter a 'no,' and Zach shakes his head in response.

"Okay," Danny shrugs and his voice raises in pitch, "I'll take you home but you both live in the same building. You gotta kiss and make up sooner or later."

I roll my eyes at his comment and continue staring out of the window. He has a point, but I'm not even mad at Zach, I'm worried about him.

When Danny pulled up and parked in front of our building, Zach jumped out immediately. I asked Danny if he wanted to stay for a while but he declined saying we've given him enough bad energy today. ****

I didn't bother arguing, I just wanted to stall long enough for Zach to be gone by the time I made it inside, and he wasn't.

But he's standing with her, so I'm not your to complain...

"Peyton..." I breathed out.

She smiled, "it's my high school boyfriend." I wish you'd think of me like that. "How ya doing, Leo?"

"Fine," I push my hair back from my face, "You?"

"Never been better," she said casually before turning away, her curls taking wind and falling nicely onto her shoulders.

"Call me?"I ask like always, but she never fails to give the same response.

 _"I have a boyfriend, Leo_ _,"_ she playfully rolls her eyes at me.

"If that doesn't work out, you know where I'll be."

"Always the boy next door," Peyton smirks.

"Actually, the boy one floor up," I shrug and she blows me a kiss before walking back into her apartment.

Her real boyfriend is a joke, he hardly comes by to see her. How do you care about someone and not want to spend as much time as possible with them?

One of the most twisted things about life is loving someone who doesn't love you back.

If someone felt that strongly about me, I think I'd date them out of understanding.

I shake the sappy thoughts out of my head and take my house key out of my pocket. The cool air welcomes me in, and I know I'm about to have the best after school nap ever.

I mentally prepared myself all day to be engulfed by my bedsheets, but when I walked into my room, my bed was already occupied.

Cherry fucking Marshall.

"Hey, Leo," she smiles at me.

"What the hell, Cher?"

"Miss me?"

I sigh, "how'd you get into my house?"

"You showed me where you kept the spare key, remember?"

Correction: A drunken late-night hookup showed you where I kept the spare key.

"You can't just do this, what if my mom was home? What if I had company?"

"Like who? A girl?" Cherry raises an eyebrow. "As if anyone knows what gets you off better than I do." Her voice comes out seductively, and she grabs my hands to pull me toward her.

"Why are you doing this, Cher?" I say lowly as she unbuttons my jeans and kisses down my navel.

"I want you to want me, Leo..."

"Why like this? Why offer yourself like this?"

I don't want to be a hypocrite and go back on my word. Cherry is a perfect example of still loving when it's unrequited. I understand her, but it feels wrong letting her do this. She shouldn't _want_ to be used.

But anything to get close, right?

"Stop talking," she quiets me and the feeling of guilt is replaced with pleasure when she starts to touch.

" _Fuck, Cherry_ _,"_ I moan and let her hold onto my waist as her mouth wraps around me. "This is the last time, okay?"

"Mmm," she hummedand I cursed at the vibrations it sent threw my body.

The feeling of hesitance weighed me down, but I felt lighter the more her tongue swirled around my tip."Fuck it," I thought to myself before I tangled my fingers in her wavy locks and guided her head slowly.

She looked to be smirking at the fact that I'd finally given in...her mouth molding perfectly around me as she went further and further, her small hand warm and moving up and down my shaft, bringing pleasure to what wouldn't fit in her mouth.

Cherry's lips are slightly swollen and her cheeks are hollowed. _Damn,_ I wish bad things didn't feel so good.My body began to tense up and my breathing became unsteady. I bit my bottom lip gently to hold back the moans as I looked down at her.

She peers up at me past her eyelashes, "Do you want me yet?" She asks though the answer is evident.

What an evil genius. How am I supposed to say no when I'm already so close?

"...get on the bed."


	7. And Your Enemies Closer

**Scene 1: The Helmsley Hotel**

**Heather Blakely**

"Oh, sweetie, you're not wearing that are you?" My mother sighs when she sees me.

"...it's the uniform." I furrow my eyebrows as I look down at my pleated skirt.

"Not that, the jacket, darling." She comes over to pull it down my shoulders before handing me another one. "There, that one is better."

"Thanks, mom," I sigh and roll my eyes. ****

I can't remember a time where I wasn't dressing to impress her. I wear diamond earrings just to go to class and wear thigh high stockings with heels so she doesn't think I look bland.

I don't know who died and made her queen of the fashion world, but I wish they'd overthrow her already. ****

"Are you off to school now, Heather?" My mother calls out as she stands in the kitchen pouring the first of many cups of coffee.

"Yes, and I won't be back right away. I'm going shopping with Alison."She wants something new for her date, and I still have yet to put a dress on hold for the autumn ball.

"Keep the receipt, you might not like what you buy as much as you think you do."

In other words: _I might make you return the things I don't approve of._

I ignore her and head for the door, grabbing my bag before I get there.

The only good thing about overbearing parents is that there's a fifty percent chance you won't be like them when you have kids. The other fifty percent is the chance of you being _exactly_ like them. God bless the future generations if that's true.

I take the elevator down to the lobby and am greeted by the smiling faces of Edna at the desk and Gustav by the door. 

"Good morning, Ms. Heather," Edna says sweetly before standing up and walking over to me. "Did you have breakfast?" She hands me amuffin and a warm drink. "It's tea, Ms. Heather, it's good for you."

"Thank you, Edna." I wrap my arms around her while holding the food.

"It's my pleasure," she smiles before returning to her post.

"Your car is here, Ms. Heather." Gustav holds open the door for me before following me out and opening the car door as well. "Have a nice day at school, please."

I nod, "I'll try, but only if you promise not to let these old, bitter people walk all over you today."

I hate to see employees treated badly. Especially if they're Edna and Gustav.

He chuckled before closing the car door and waving me off as I was driven away.

The drivers in New York have a habit of not speaking but subtly glancing at you from the rearview mirror. Through the years, that's just given me the habit of pretending I'm the only one in the car.

I ate half the muffin and wrapped up the rest before storing it in my bag. The tea was only slightly cooled down by the time the car stopped but I didn't mind. It's always nice to have something to drink during class.

I didn't bother with saying thank you before I got out of the car and the man hardly gave me a chance to grab my bag before he drove off.

Despite the morning irritancy, there's still a chance my day will go well.

So I thought...before I walked down the hall and saw how pissy Audrey looked.

"Heather!" She shouted when we made eye contact. "You would not _believe_ what's happening right now. I can hardly comprehend it." 

"What's wrong?" I furrowed my eyebrows and let her approach me.

"Some moron is ripping down my posters! All of them! It took me hours to design just one, and I _don't_ have copies and the geek with the digital copies is missing and— what is that? Coffee?" She stops rambling when she sees the cup in my hand.

"No, it's tea but-"

"Oh, good." Audrey takes it from me and begins drinking. "I can't even have caffeine right now and I'm _so_ tired."

I sigh, "if we can grab one of your posters before they're all destroyed, we can make copies in the library and get them laminated."

"Heather, you're a god damn genius. What would I do without you bringing me tea and fixing all my problems?" Audrey says gratefully before patting the top of my head like a dog.

"I guess we'll never know," I shrug in response, and she blows me a kiss before heading to the nearest poster.

I snicker to myself when I see her stretching out and jumping an inch off the ground in heels at an attempt to reach it...but my smile fades when a group of burnout guys start walking toward her.

"Let me help you with that, homecoming queen." A fairly tall one with longish brown hair snatched the poster down. I'm pretty sure he's the same guy who drove me home the night of Jace's party.

"...thanks," Audrey said halfheartedly.

"Here, take it." He brought it near her but immediately took his hand back before she could grab the poster from him. I watched her glare and reach for it again, but he only pulled further back before ripping it in half.

...I swear if you looked hard enough, you could see the humanity leaving her body.

"You poor, dirty, _bastard_ mistake of a heroin junkie. Go die somewhere!" Audrey shoved him as hard as she could, but he hardly moved and that only made her angrier so she kept shoving.

I sighed before running up and grabbing her, attempting to drag her away. "Audrey, stop. It's not worth it," I practically begged but she kept fighting me off.

The burnout guys only laughed at the way she was acting, and I scowled when I saw Leo Rylin in the crowd.

"Aw, is that any way to treat the guy with your last poster?" The brunette boy smirked.

"What do you mean _last_ poster?" I spoke up before Audrey could.

"Oh, you speak to someone other than the headmistress, huh? What happened to us not being worth it?"

"Oh, screw you," I scoffed.

"Screw your posters and screw your little central dance. How about that?" He smiled before nudging Leo.

"It's not just for us, idiot," I narrow my eyes at him.

"But we wouldn't want you there," Audrey spat.

"Nah, you wouldn't, would you?" He challenged. "Rylin, rip the poster."

"No!" Audrey cried out when Leo took the poster from behind his back.

"Leo..." I said softly and he looked up at me.

I'd like to think the random moments we've had together at least make us acquaintances.

"...Heather," he said nonchalantly before tearing the poster to shreds and throwing the pieces at our feet.

Audrey looked to be on the brink of tears as she knelt down to pick up the torn paper.

Leo wore a sly facial expression as I stood there in shock.

"Oops...I hope that didn't take a long time to make...it only took a second to destroy," he laughed along with the others.

"You can all go _rot_."

**Scene 2: Madison Street**

**Leo Rylin**

"Man, I was with you all day." Danny tilted my head to the side to get a better view of my neck, "How did I not see these? Cherry's a fucking vampire," helaughed at the hickeys my shirt couldn't hide.

"I know, I didn't even notice them until I took a shower this morning," I sighed.

"She's marked her territory." Danny puts his arms up in surrender, "I don't even know if I'm _allowed_ to be here right now."

"Shut up," I scoff. "You're one to talk, you should have rope burn from how hard Val pulls your leash."

"I'm not on a leash. When did being in a relationship become a joke to everyone? Die alone, go ahead, I dare you."

"Calm down, Danny." I lie back on my bed laughing.

"This is funny to you, huh?" He raises an eyebrow.

I smile, "yes, I think it's absolutely hilarious how easy it is to piss you off." 

"You know what's funnier?"

"What?" I challenge.

"Your mom seeing those bruises on your neck and going ballistic," Danny smirks.

I sit up to look at him, "You wouldn't..."

"Wanna bet?"

"She's not even home yet, Danny." I shake my head and lay back down.

"No worries, I can just call the bakery and ask for the beautiful Isabel Rylin," he says slyly.

"Danny no-" I try to stop him but he's already running out of my room to get to the phone in the kitchen.

"Oh, Hi, Ms. Rylin," Danny says out loud as he runs around dodging me with the phone in his hand.

I knew something like this would happen if my mom bought the cordless phone. I told her it was a waste of money and now look, Danny's got it.

"Put down the phone and we can talk about this, man to man." I keep him cornered.

He shrugs, "I'd rather talk to your mom." 

"What will you gain from-" I pause before laughing, "you jackass, you didn't even grab the number." I pick up the notepad with all her emergency numbers.

"Don't call me a jackass, you'll still have to hide half of your face when your mom..." He stops speaking when we hear the door unlock, "gets here."

"Leo, honey," she calls out before she sees me. "Oh, there you are." I walk over to hug her. "I am so exhausted right now. I'd take the entire month off if we could afford it."

"Something happen at the bakery?" I turn away from her and pretend like I'm organizing the magazines so she only sees the unmarked side of me.

"Yes, this lady came in and ordered three dozen of our specialty bagels." I nodded for her to continue, "she wanted them all in forty-five minutes or less. I said it wasn't a problem but halfway into the bake time, she changed her order and asked for donuts instead with the _same_ deadline."

" _No_..." I gasped in fake interest.

"She did! So I said: ' _Look, ma'am. You knew you wanted donuts when you lied about the bagels. Now you're going to pay the price, it's a six dollar inconvenience fee and an extra twenty minutes.'"_

"You go, mom," I chuckle at her attitude.

She sighs, "enough about my day, how was school, boys?" She looks between me and Danny, and I glare at him before he could respond with something stupid.

"The same old stuff. You know they never teach us anything at that overpriced institution," he shrugs. "Lunch was cool though. Leo brought _cherries_."

"Danny..." I say through gritted teeth.

"Cherries? I didn't buy any, who'd you get cherries from?" My mom furrows her eyebrows.

"A friend of mine, he forgot he was allergic," I lie.

"Marshall, right?" Danny asks. "He gave me some too, but they were all _bruised_."

I can see him smirking out the corner of my eye, but I ignore him so my mom doesn't get suspicious.

"...am I missing something?" She asks.

"Nope, but we'll miss Danny. He's going home, aren't you, Danny?"

He chuckles and nods, "I am, see youat school Leo, and see you tomorrow maybe, alright mom?" He hugs her goodbye.

"Alright, sweetheart." She gives him a kiss on the cheek.

What's funny is— I met Danny when I was around ten years old. After he started coming around more, he started calling my mom, _his_ mom, and I was an annoyingly jealous preteen. I think the first time my voice cracked was when I was yelling at him for trying to steal my mom. He told me to get over it and eventually I did because he's my best friend.

"Oh, before I forget, Leo...put ice on your neck, it'll fix you right up."

_Sometimes._

"What?" My mom gasps and walks over to me. "Did something happen? Let me see you..."

I sigh and turn my head. At this point, I have no choice but to take the heat.

"Now don't freak out-"

"Leo, for God's sake. I know what those are!" She pushes me back a bit.

"It's no big deal, honestly. I'm not a kid." 

"You're my kid, and this is _my house._ I can't stop you from going out and doing whatever you want with these sleazy street girls but I can stop you from doing it under my roof," she speaks sternly as she stands in front of me with her hands on her hips.

"You're overreacting, mom." I try to avoid the conversation and head to my room but she stops me.

"Don't walk away when I'm talking to you, " she huffs.

"Mom, what are we still talking for?"I roll my eyes, "dad gave me the talk when I was thirteen, he gave me condoms my first year in high school, and I'm a normal teenager. Can you drop this now?"

"You know what?" She crosses her arms, "I'm going to have Mr. Krakowski check in on you from now on."

"Ah- mom, don't bother that old man," I groan.

Mr. Krakowski is a seventy-year-old military vet. Whenever I see him in the hallway he starts conversations and tells me stories about his life before the navy.

_"Leonardo, Leonardo, you remind me of me when I was younger. Of course, my hair was proper. We wore it gelled, back in my day."_

"He'd be happy to do it. He misses his children. He'd love spending time with you." She paced through the apartment, grabbing things for her second job.

"Mom-"

"End of discussion, Leo."

**Scene 3: Bergdorf Goodman**

**Alison Sinclair**

"That one is beautiful, Heather," Alison says in awe as I hold up a soft pink dress.

"Yeah...but I was hoping to wear red."

"Well, keep looking. You might find something like it."

"What color are you wearing?" I ask out of curiosity. I remember that she invited me dress shopping months ago but I thought it was too early.

"I wanted to wear rose gold but Audrey said I couldn't because _she's_ wearing rose gold." Alison rolled her eyes. "But- now that I think about it, who cares what she says? I can wear whatever color I want to."

"...I guess you two are still fighting," I say lowly.

"I don't understand why I was ever friends with her. She's a control freak, she's a bitch, _and_ she's a slut."

"Alison!" I whisper shout as the people around us start to stare.

"I mean- she's _so_ bad to us, why do you stay?"

"The same reason youdid before the fight. Audrey's difficult but she's our friend."

"Saying she's difficult is too kind," Alison shook her head. "If I never talk to her again, it would be too soon."

I laugh to myself, "you'll miss each other eventually."

"Why would I miss her? I have you and Ethan and literally everyone except for her."

"What if you and Ethan don't work out? What if he's not the guy you thought he was?" I ask hesitantly, knowing this is a sensitive subject for her.

"Not you too," she huffs. "Why does everyone think the worse of him?"

"He's got a reputation, Ali."

She crosses her arms, "so? Jace does too."

"Look, I'm not saying don't go for it. I'm just saying it's not worth losing a friend that's been there for you." 

"It's not like she's ever been a good friend to me, Heather."

I sigh, "Why are we still talking about this?The facts aren't going to change. Audrey isn't a bad person, she just believes in tough love. Ethan is a heartbreaker and all she did was give you a legitimate reason not to date him."

"Why, because she opened her legs for him?" Alison asks rhetorically. "In that case, half the male species isn't dateable. I wouldn't be shocked if your boyfriend was included."

"Now you're just trying to be mean."

"Well, you started it. For someone who claims to be my best friend, you sure as hell have a way of picking sides," she scowls before storming away from me.

I didn't bother chasing after her either. I have a serious pet peeve for people who choose relationships over close friends, especially without a real reason. I get why she's angry with Audrey, but I've done nothing to her.

I don't know what gave her the impression that I'm picking sides.

But I don't apologize to people who don't deserve it.

**Scene 4: 74th Street**

**Audrey Michaels**

I asked my taxi driver to stop on Madison Avenue, but it wasn't for any particular reason. I just wanted to walk and pretend like everything was the way it was last month.

Last month, I could pass by restaurants and food stands without almost gagging at the smell. I could wake up in the morning after getting eight hours of sleep and not feel like I'm going to pass out. I was normal not so long ago...now, I've never felt further from that.

I step up the stairs of the high-class townhouse and knocksoftly on the door, hoping that maybe if he doesn't hear me, I won't have to tell him.

But the door opened anyway...and I froze up seeing his face.

"Uh- Hello, Audrey...." Ethan chuckled awkwardly.

"Hi..." I sighed and stared at the ground so that I didn't have to look into his eyes.

"So...why are you here?" He stands in the doorway, obviously having no intent on letting me in.

"Because we need to talk," I scoff at hislack of hospitality. "It's important."

"Fine- um, come in...sit on the couch. My parents won't be back until later on."

I rolled my eyes and pushed past him, walking into the familiar house.

Unlike most of the upper east side families, Ethan's parents are home pretty often. His mother is a psychologist and his father is a lawyer, it must be nice being well-off _and_ having an actual family.

"You don't want to sit down?" Ethan asks when he follows me into the living room and sees I'm still standing.

"No, I really don't."

"Well, can you make this quick? I kind of have somewhere to be soon..."

"Sure! I wouldn't _dare_ want to waste your time with my problems, Ethan!" 

He sighs and shakes his head, "I just want to know why you're here. The last time you came, it was to hookup but after what Alison told me, I don't think that's why you showed up today."

"God forbid a girl doesn't come here to get you off." I laugh in disbelief, "but when I did...there on that couch, twice in your shower, a few times on your bed. How many times did we use protection, Ethan?"

"I dunno...you're on the pill, right?"

"No- I stopped taking it a couple of months ago, it was making me gain weight." _Oh, the sad, pathetic irony of that now._

"So, what are you saying?Are you like...pregnant?" I watch the realization wash over him...the worry taking hold of his face.

"I think so, yes..."

"Dammit, Audrey!" He runs his hands through his hair stressfully. "What makes you think it's mine?"

I glare at him, "because you're the only person I've slept with in _months_ , Ethan. I'm not a whore."

"Then what the _fuck_ are we going to do now?"


End file.
